At the Wand's Core
by FavoriteCharacter
Summary: At a place like Hogwarts, there's no room for small personalities. Genre spends a long time supressing her feelings about everything, making her unimpressionable to say the least. Then, 5th year happens, and now the world gets to watch her change into the fierce Gryffindor she is as she discovers herself...and as others discover her, as well.
1. A Writer's Family

Welcome to Chapter One of my new story, "At the Wand's Core". The story is intended to be a coming-of-age adventure, with a side of romance. I hope you all have patience with it (and me). J.K. Rowling's stuff is hers. My stuff is mine. Enjoy!

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**The Writers' Family**

_One_…breathe in, breathe out…

_Two_…breathe in, breathe out…

_ Three_…breathe in, breathe out…

_Four_…breathe in, breathe out…

_Fiv_ – "Merlin damn it, just shut up." I gave up trying to be mature. Silence fell immediately, and everyone in the compartment turned to look at me, most of them with shocked eyes. I hadn't screamed, and I most certainly hadn't yelled, but cussing? Me? It was written clear on their faces that it simply wasn't allowed. And that was what I got for sitting in a compartment with my older siblings and their friends.

"Watch your language, Genre Anne Pokeby." My sister, Cadie, warned me. I zipped my lips again. She didn't use my full name unless she meant it. They all continued their conversation – my least favorite conversation – on dragons. I curled my fingers protectively around my ankle, drawing my legs closer to my body.

Cadie and Stan – short for Cadence and Stanza – were twins, though they were fraternal twins and not identical. They were two years ahead of me, but liked to act like they were a whole decade older. Stan, who liked to pretend his name was Stanley so he could feel normal, was animatedly describing the most recent discovery in the world of flying reptiles. I was closing my eyes, resuming the count in my head. Jenny and Dick, their friends, kept interrupting with their own tidbits of information. One thing they all had in common was their obsession with dangerous creatures.

I was too young when my family was attacked to actually remember the dragon, but sometimes I had nightmares about it. It was the day before my birthday, and the day after Cadie and Stan's birthday, when it happened. We were in the small house by the lake, the one mom and dad used when they needed to get away to write. Every week, every Sunday, we had a picnic. This time, a Peruvian Vipertooth joined us. Dad lost his right arm. Mom's face got scarred. Cadie and Stan, miraculously, managed to avoid damage. My ankle had been mangled. At the hospital, they had gotten us fixed up as best they could, but some things can't be fixed. I had pits in my ankle where the poisonous fangs had dipped in, dad's arm was gone forever, and mom's face remained marred. I developed a horrible fear of dangerous creatures. Cadie and Stan developed a horrible obsession with them.

Since Jenny and Stan had the two window seats, I was forced to watch out the compartment door instead. There passed Arkie Alderton, the Ravenclaw with a knack for broomsticks. He was long and willowy, with drawn out features. Once, Cadie had had a crush on him. He turned her down because she wasn't on the Quidditch team. Walking separately, but beside him, was Glenda Crook. She had pretty blonde hair and a pert little face, but no one was allowed to say anything. She was a die-hard feminist and hated being reminded that she was more – or less, from her point of view – than a walking brain. For a while, no one else passed, but then one of the girls from my year stalked by angrily, her cheeks burning as fiercely as her hair. Lily Evans. We shared a dorm, and even sometimes conversed, but we weren't super close. I wasn't surprised to see the two people passing after her: James Potter and Sirius Black.

At the ripe age of fifteen, the two boys were handsome in an awkward sort of way. James was all elbows and knees, shooting up in height until he resembled a water crane. Sirius matched him inch for inch, but with less bony angles and more not-quite muscle. I turned back to Lily, but she was already past the allotted view the compartment door gave me. I would probably hear about what had happened anyways, later that night, so I stopped worrying about it, and just focused on not listening to what my siblings and their friends were talking about.

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Dinner was always a tricky affair for us – we ate as a family at home, and so we continued to do so at school. Of course, we were in three different houses. We speculated that if we'd had another sibling, he or she would have ended up in Slytherin. Usually we just ate at the Hufflepuff table, because all of Stan's dorm mates were very accepting and polite. Once in a while we ate at the Ravenclaw table, but Cadie's friends were sharp-witted and sharp-tongued. Very rarely did we eat at my table, because the Gryffindor table was often a battle zone. Because it was the opening feast, however, we all sat apart with our own house.

"How was your summer?" Lily politely asked us all while we waited for Dumbledore to begin the speech.

"It was grand," Mary began in an airy voice. We all laughed, used to her pompous theatrics. Personally, I didn't find it to be very humorous, but laughing was really the only wait to move past it. "We went to _America_." Her lips curled up in disgust. I perked up, immediately curious. I had an irrational fear of creatures, but when it came to different countries, I had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

"What was it like?" Lily asked, her almond eyes tilting my way. I smiled shyly, knowing she asked mostly for my benefit.

"It was horrible. Everyone dresses like rubbish there – all these different shades of brown and grey. And then the women wear these hideous colors on their lips and legs. It's like they want to look as gross as possible." I watched Mary talk, eying the way her face transformed as she spoke about the different styles there. Her attention wavered between all of us, taking in our own styles so as to be sure not to insult any of us. She was always very careful about that.

"You're so lucky." Lily smiled at Mary as we all scooted over, making a little bit of room for Mary's boyfriend of the day. "I've always wanted to visit another country." As silent as usual, I agreed. I had lived in England my entire life, and here in Scotland was the only other place I had ever been. Where would I go, if I had the chance? Who knows. Maybe Wales or Norway or France. Or maybe something much more different. Maybe America or Australia or even Africa! But I didn't add that to the conversation, I just turned my ear slightly to listen as Lily talked about the dreadful fight she and her sister had gotten into at the train station.

The next morning, McGonagall chased me down at the Hufflepuff table, her lips twisted in a frown at having had to search for me to hand me my schedule. Cadie, Stan and I all compared schedules. Of course, I would never have any classes with them, but it was still tradition. They both had NEWT level Care of Magical Creatures, and NEWT level Herbology. With only two other classes each, they had set the standard pretty low for me. If I managed to get four OWLs, my parents would be thrilled. Of course, I planned on getting more than just four. The classes I did have made me mildly nervous.

**Genre Pokeby**

**Monday, Wednesday, Friday**

**9:00 – 10:00 Transfiguration  
10:15 – 12:15 Potions  
1:00 – 2:00 Care of Magical Creatures  
2:15 – 3:15 Herbology  
12:00 – 1:00 Astronomy**

**Tuesday, Thursday**

**11:00 – 12:15 Charms  
1:00 – 2:15 Defense Against the Dark Arts  
3:45 – 5:00 History of Magic  
5:15 – 6:30 Ancient Runes**

I stared in horror at my schedule, realizing that I would probably have to skimp on some of my meals to make it to classes in time. Why did I sign up for so many? What had I been thinking? The smart thing to do would have been to march over to McGonagall and have her remove classes from my schedule. Unfortunately, Cadie was the one in Ravenclaw. I was in Gryffindor, home of the courageous, and apparently foolish. My siblings were extraordinarily sympathetic though, which made me feel better.

"You'll do fine." Cadie assured me.

"And if you don't, you'll just fit in with us." Stan nodded sagely. I face-planted inches from my toast. It was going to be a busy year.

I don't know when it occurred to me that Cadie and Stan were going to leave me at Hogwarts in the next year. I was eating my customary toast, with a slice of tomato, when it clicked. They were both in their seventh year. I was only a fifth year. The thought was heavy on my mind though, as I walked drearily to my Transfiguration class.


	2. Feather's Aren't Fun

This probably should have been mentioned in the last chapter – but obviously I don't own Harry Potter. This is, after all, just fanfiction.

Thank you PJO-Blue-cookies for the encouraging review!

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**Feathers Aren't Fun**

Transfiguration was with the Hufflepuffs, which was nice. Not only did I have a lot of friends in Hufflepuff, they were always very pleasant and easy to work with. I settled into a seat by Bertram Aubrey. He smiled a welcome at me, and I returned it. Crispin Cronk was on his other side. I stayed between Bertram and Honoria Nutcombe, though. Crispin freaked me out. He was like Stan and Cadie, except he actually collected dangerous creatures. I heard he even tried to steal an acromantula egg from Hagrid. I made sure to avoid him at all costs.

"You know what I heard?" Honoria leaned towards me, covering her thin lips with a cupped hand to whisper.

"What?" I whispered back, twisting away from Bertram.

"That rather attractive boy, the one in your house?" Honoria flicked her eyes to the back corner of the room. I hadn't even noticed Lily Evans and her constant group of stalkers enter the room. "I heard he lost his virginity to John Abbott's little sister."

"I seriously doubt that." I accidentally said it louder than I intended, and Sirius Black's gaze shot over to us. He nudged the boy next to him in the ribs, and James Potter glanced over as well, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses. Remus looked up without needing the prompt, and I almost died. I hurriedly looked down at my parchment, and busied myself filling my quill with ink. I didn't like attention from a lot of people, and I definitely didn't like male attention.

Professor McGonagall banished all lingering embarrassment when she entered the classroom. Even though it was only the first day, she had us working. The first fifteen minutes were simply scribbling notes. We were moving on to larger objects this year, and she wanted us to be prepared.

"Wands out!" She commanded. Her wispy hair, already tinged grey in little streaks, was falling out of her normally perfect bun. I wondered if she was okay. Her voice was iron, though, and I just did what she asked. I pulled out my wand and shoved the parchment and my ink and quill into my bag. My _Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_ stayed on my desk, open to the spell we were about to perform.

"Avifors," I muttered dutifully, committing the spell to memory. Professor McGonagall flicked her wand, and out flew miscellaneous objects. An old, graying handkerchief landed in front of me.

"Avifors?" Honoria glanced up, surprised, "I thought it was Aviafors!" I looked at her in shock, watching as the bit of parchment her wand had been pointing to began to shape into something blob-like. McGonagall came rushing over, her lips pursed together and a slight wrinkle appearing at the corner of her mouth.

"Miss Nutcombe, do us all a favor and read the spell before attempting it!" Our professor snapped, waving her wand over the object – now smoking – so that it returned to its previous form of flat paper. I waited before she turned away before sharing a wide-eyed glance with Honoria.

"Avifors." I said confidently, after reading the pronunciation once more. The tip of my wand flashed pale green, and then the handkerchief began morphing before my very eyes. This was my favorite part of Transfiguration. I loved watching things change.

"I can do that." I heard Sirius snort.

"Well, obviously." James chuckled, and then all four boys seemed to be laughing lightly. I wondered what that was supposed to mean. It sounded a bit like an insult to me, and my shoulders stiffened. Had they continued making comments, I probably would have had to start counting in my head, but they all intoned their spells, and there was an increase of chirping in the room.

"I just can't get this right," Bertram whined, looking at me hopelessly.

"Oh, I got it." Crispin reached over and grabbed Bertram's wand. "It goes like this!"

And with that, there was once again a spell-gone-bad. I backed away from the broken clock that was growing – of all things – tentacles, and my mourning dove flapped heavily to get up near the ceiling. McGonagall once again had to clean up after our mess.

"That whole class is a bust." Honoria grumbled to me as we left the room. I shrugged, but didn't say anything. Honestly, I rather liked Transfiguration.

Having Transfiguration first made the day interesting – Potions is what made the day horrible. Gryffindors had Potions with Slytherins. I would have thought the professors would realize mixing the two houses would be a bad thing, but for some reason this class always ended up the same way. Even worse, Professor Slughorn seemed intent on being absolutely _horrible_. He always struck me as a slightly off, but nice, man. What he did, though, made me realize that he was unnecessarily cruel. He gave us permanent seats.

I got stuck between James Potter and Severus Snape. The latter of the two was my partner.

I was sure our potion came out perfect, but I had been hit by a stray stinging hex during the class. My wrist was twice the size it should have been, and Snape and Potter were too busy glaring at each other to notice. In the end, Professor Slughorn had to perform the reduction charm. By the time class ended, I was so ready to escape I bolted out before Snape even turned in our sweet smelling, lavender potion: Vitamix.

"How have classes been treating you?" Stan grinned at me as I slid between him and Cadie in the hallway. She nudged me with her shoulder, as if sensing I was shaken.

"I hate potions." I muttered, shivering violently at the thought of sitting through the class again in just two days.

"Chin up, darling." Cadie said in her unfairly beautiful voice. I saw Dick look up from a few seats over, his eyes appraising her. He did this frequently, but he had never once asked her to Hogsmeade.

"My chin remains up." I smiled at my sister.

"Well good, because Professor Tofty has got something great in store for you." Stan informed me. I froze. The tone of his voice told me that I probably wouldn't enjoy whatever it was that Tofty had planned.

"Don't make her nervous." Cadie murmured over my shoulder.

"What?" I couldn't help that my voice was shrilly. "What is it?"

"Genre, calm down." Dick ordered. Him and Jenny were used to me freaking out whenever it came to Care of Magical Creatures – honestly, if it hadn't been such an important class, I never would have taken it. I tried to listen to Dick though, and counted slowly in my head.

Professor Tofty didn't cause my panic attack in vain. When I arrived to the front lawn with the rest of my year in Gryffindors and Slytherins (again, were all of my classes except for Transfiguration doomed to be horrible?) Professor Tofty was holding onto the reins of a large creature. One with a sharp beak, claws, heavy hooves, and very intent orange eyes.

"That must be a hippogriff!" Someone muttered excitedly. I was pretty sure it had been Lily Evans.

"This," Professor Tofty began speaking, "is a hippogriff."

"Ten points to Lily Evans." I muttered sarcastically under my breath. The girl in question shot me an amused grin.

"Today you will learn how to properly approach a hippogriff, and what to do if one approaches you. I want you all to turn to the person nearest you, and practice bowing. Retain eye contact and don't lift from the bow until your partner has bowed as well." Professor Tofty commanded us in her booming voice, keeping the creature safely away from us.

I turned hopefully to Lily, but she was already paired with Mary. Linda and Penny, our other two dorm mates, had also paired off. I was going to get stuck with a Slytherin, I just knew it! But when I resigned myself to facing another direction, I found myself eye-to-eye with Peter Pettigrew.

"Partners?" He grinned, showing his rather large teeth.

"Partners." I agreed with relief, turning to fully face the pudgy boy in front of me. When Tofty gave the command, I bent my body at the waist, and kept eye contact with the watery-eyed boy in front of me. He bowed quickly and we both straightened. A few pairs were holding out, messing around with their partners, but Tofty didn't seem to notice.

"Everyone heard you earlier." Peter sniffed. I studied his blue eyes carefully, wondering what exactly everyone had heard. He seemed to sense my confusion, and continued. "About Pa-er, Sirius. About Sirius."

"You mean in Transfiguration!" I concluded, startled. What did that matter? That had been hours ago!

"Yer." Peter nodded. And that was the end of the conversation, because Tofty was calling us towards her now.

"Stop there." She commanded us. I found myself near the front of the group, somehow, and froze. I knew what was going to happen with cruel certainty. "You, Pokeby," she beckoned, "come forward."

"Professor, I really don't think this is a good idea." I said as calmly as I could, trying to melt back. The people behind me didn't give me any room to.

"Now, if you please." Professor Tofty snapped.

"Professor, really!" I pleaded.

"Just get out there." Someone, a Slytherin, snapped from behind me. A hard force hit me between the shoulder blades, and I tripped over my own robes as I fell forward in front of the hippogriff. His head reared back, and he snorted unhappily. The bronze feathers all over his head and chest ruffled up, the copper-brown fur on his back rising unhappily.

"Bow." Professor Tofty hissed at me. I blinked stupidly, my mouth opening as I tried telling her I didn't think I could move. Apparently I couldn't speak, either, because I was still hunched over on the ground and no noise was coming out of my open mouth.

The hippogriff fluttered his black-tipped wings, and stamped his front claws down in front of my face. I winced, my arms rising of their own volition to protect my face.

"Pokeby, you must bow!" Tofty commanded, trying to pull on the reins to move the hippogriff back from me. He strained against his constraints, and remained right where he was. Tears had already built up in my eyes, and they were going to fall any second now as the hippogriff reared back once more. But then, someone's hand was on my arm, tugging me up form my position, and then forcing me into a bow. I was pretty sure I could see Lily's hair, bright red, beside me as she bowed as well. She kept eye contact with the hippogriff. I couldn't.

"It's okay, Genre." She whispered soothingly, and now the hippogriff was bending his head down as well. And it was okay, for perfect, sweet, brave Lily. How could it be okay for me, though? The only Pokeby in Gryffindor, and I hadn't shown an ounce of courage. It wasn't okay for me. I didn't say anything, though, I just let Lily hold my arm and I blinked stupidly so the tears wouldn't fall.

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Author's Note: The fifth year is going to go by somewhat quickly. I am mostly using it as a means to introduce the characters and set up a good base for development. Enjoy it while it lasts, though! The chapters will hopefully be getting a bit longer when I reach the sixth year as the plot will be heavier then.


	3. Silent Desire

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world aren't mine. Genre and her family are all mine :)

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**Silent Desire**

The mutters behind me said nothing good, so I kept my ears as untrained as possible. I didn't focus on anyone, and when the class was over, I was walking as though I were a zombie. Lily's comforting mutters didn't do much for me. Penny was trying to get in on the mothering card, too, but with a quiet look I managed to send her scurrying away once we were back in the Great Hall.

"Thanks, Lily." I muttered, not quite meeting her eyes. "I'll be fine though, really. You go on." And so she did, with a few backwards glances my way. See, that was the thing about Lily – she could be so disgustingly good that you just wanted to punch her for being too compassionate. But then, when the professors weren't looking of course, she could throw hexes and parchment balls with the best of them. I would have rather her been hexing me at the moment than pitying me. I didn't deserve her pity, not for being a coward.

"Great demonstration, Pokeby." Sirius Black snorted as he walked past me. James Potter smacked me heartily on the back, and Peter Pettigrew chortled unbecomingly. I guess any truce we might have had was gone. Remus Lupin just skirted around me, avoiding eye contact.

It was lucky I knew where the Hufflepuff common room was, because there was no way I was going near the Gryffindor tower for the next month. Sadly enough, I already knew the password (dedication) and murmured it to the soft-wood frames of the golden-hued painting. I slipped into the common room and stopped a moment to collect my bearings. It was rather more _crowded_ than it had been the year before, you see. Nonetheless, I marched straight through the Hufflepuffs, most of whom greeted me cheerily, until I spotted Dick and Jenny.

"Richard, Jennifer." I nodded to both of them. Although neither one corrected me on the use of their given names, they both shot me knowing looks.

"It didn't go well, then?" Jenny asked kindly. My groan was her answer.

"Well, chin up, sweets." Dick nudged my shoulder. "It definitely could have gone worse."

"Are you jesting?" I swiped playfully at his hand. "I just proved that Pokebys don't belong in Gryffindor. And I got rescued. By. A. Girl." I emphasized each of my points with an attempted jab at his ribs. See, that's the thing about my siblings and their friends: they all took me under their wings. I was so close to them that sometimes I lacked in my friendships with people my own age.

"No, you proved that…that…" Jenny trailed off, having nothing witty to supply. That's why she was in Hufflepuff with Stan. Dick and Cadie both had this underlying wit. I never thought it made them smarter than the other two, but they did dance quicker on their feet with words. "Say, didn't you have another class today?" She interrupted her previous statement, suddenly a bit accusatory.

"Two of them." I grinned, reclining back on the round, comfortable armchair. Everything in the Hufflepuff common room was wooden or warm colored (mostly yellow, go figure) with black accents. The chair I sat on was overstuffed, but so fluffy and thick that I was comfortable. Compared to the Gryffindor common room, and especially the Ravenclaw common room, it was almost over-accommodating.

"And you're skipping?" Dick asked incredulously, quirking his thick, black eyebrow at me.

"Only Herbology. I was too shaky to go." I tugged my legs up to my torso, hugging my knees close to my chin.

"You don't look too shaky now." Jenny observed.

"Because I'm safe and sound in here." I pointed out. It was true – most of the students had owls as pets. Few had rats, cats, or toads. And honestly, the only one of those I didn't mind too much was the toads. What were they going to do? Hop on me? Toads of the poisonous (or warty) variety were of the illegal objects not allowed into Hogwarts.

"Just don't get into trouble." Jenny and Dick quoted together, before shooting each other amused glances. I didn't respond, and just snuggled deeply into the chair. After a minute or two, Jenny and Dick went back to working on their Arithmancy assignment. I examined my wand, as I was wont to do in quiet moments.

My wand fascinated me. It was an old family heirloom, and I wasn't who it was supposed to go to, but as everyone always quipped at me "The wand chooses the wizard!" (or in this case, witch). Originally I had possessed a pine wand, one that splintered frequently and wasn't very reliable. Up until the beginning of my third year, I'd been stuck with it. We had all thought I was just horrible at magic. Then, not really to anyone's surprise, while we were at my aunt's house my pine-and-dragon-scale wand snapped. I was horrified, staring at the pale, broken wood in my hands, when my great-something grandfather's wand came zooming off the mantle. There was a huge uproar. I actually almost caused a rift between my mom and her sister, but in the end I was allowed to keep the wand. We didn't actually know what was in it, just that it was made of reeds and very flexible, whereas my pine wand had been frigid (and sometimes oozed sap, which never made much sense to me).

"Day-dreamer." Someone said.

My guess was that it had a unicorn hair in it, because the idea of the graceful white or silver hair encased in the light wood had a very symbolic symmetry to it.

"Hey, dork-wad." Someone else said.

That was my guess though. Sometimes I imagined it being something very, very different. For example, once I had a dream of flying when I was trying to spell it to figure it out. (I shuddered at the thought that it might have been a hippogriff claw or something like that.) Those days I wondered if it was a feather.

"Oh, just leave her be. She's probably meditating." This time I realized with a surprised jolt that they were directing their comments to me.

"Stan and Cadie!" I grinned.

"Any particular reason that you're not in Herbology?" Cadie asked.

"Thanks to the hippogriff." I murmured, and tried looking down at my wand again to escape the lecture I knew was coming. Cadie's hand tugged the wand away from me, releasing some flying golden sparks for a moment.

"You can't just skip classes because you were scared, Genre." Cadie began. "You're supposed to be in Gryffindor." Well, that was a low blow. "And you know Mom and Dad won't be very happy about this at all." Actually, they probably wouldn't care. Maybe they could use it as the plot for their next book. "Plus, what happens if you fail? Hm? Are you looking forward to not getting many OWLs?"

"Then I'll fit right in with you guys." I shot Stan's words from earlier back at her, and then stood up prissily. They had no right to lecture me. "Thanks guys." I directed a tight smile to Jenny and Dick, and then left the golden-hazed common room. Back to Gryffindor I would go.

I must have arrived right as everyone who had been in Herbology was getting back.

"Oh, Genre! Are you feeling better now?" Lily asked, actual concern on her face.

"Much better." I replied (although I didn't have enough in me for a smile now), "Thanks."

"We were worried about you." She gestured between herself and Mary, although Penny and Linda hung back.

"Really, though, I'm fine." I smiled for real, now, at both her and Mary. Mary smiled back, and Lily examined me with her unfairly lime eyes.

"Well good, if you're sure." Mary concluded, and we all traveled into the common room together. Lily began filling me in on what I had missed in Herbology, and I tried to pay attention while Mary filed her nails next to us.

We all tried to ignore the group of four in the corner as they took turns bowing to each other and falling over, faking death. We were fifteen, I wanted to grumble. They could grow up. I didn't grumble, though, and just counted to ten in my head. I sat with Lily and Mary that day, during dinner, because I was still angry at Stan and Cadie. Plus, Lily was still giving me a detailed rundown about how exactly one should spread dragondung potting soil over the roots of Asphodel. Honestly, I didn't care that much, but she was obviously happy about helping me out so I just let her continue.

Within a day, Severus had created a greater faux-pas than the cowardly Gryfindor – he tried to hold the hand of Lily Evans. Everyone forgot about my stunt and after that, life went on as it had always gone on. I sat with Bertram and Honoria (and Crispin, but I tended to disregard him) during Transformation, I worked with anyone who didn't have a partner in Care of Magical Creatures (they tended to do all of the work, casting me scared glances every few seconds), and I was partnered with Severus in Potions. I tried to carry my weight in that class, but he spent so much time glaring down at me with his severe eyes, that I usually just took notes and did the more mundane steps of the potion – for example, stirring it. Once in a while, he even let me add in the base ingredients. Potter made life difficult there, though, and more than once I was hit by a stray jinx.

My other classes were flurries of notes and assignments, a blur of the other houses, and the occasional friend. One of my favorites was Charms, which I had with Ravenclaws. Tammy, short for a horribly embarrassing name she refused to share, was in Ravenclaw. We usually sat together, and she was one of the few friends I had that was my own age.

"Genre, get a load of this." She muttered to me once, and we both tried to subtly look to the back of the class. Lily and Potter were getting into it – he had put a silencing charm on her, from the looks of it, but she had responded by doing wordless magic. The kind of magic that I tried every now and then, and failed at usually.

"Wow." I murmured. "I wish I could do that." Tammy exchanged a look with me, and I knew what it meant. We were going to learn to do wordless magic. And I knew who would help us.

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Author's Note: I hope you're all enjoying this sllooowww pace…but I promise the chapters will start picking up as the story goes on! Right now I'm just introducing the characters, their personalities, their backgrounds, etc.


	4. Party Like You Have OWLs

Behold, Chapter 4! (I know I say this periodically, but obviously I don't own J.K. Rowling's world. And won't. Ever.)

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**Party Like You Have OWLs**

"I don't know if you guys are ready for this." Jenny frowned apprehensively as Tammy and I basically bounced on the balls of our feet. We were in an empty classroom, all six of us since my siblings and Dick and Jenny were there too.

"We never will be if we don't try." Tammy pointed out, and the hesitant seventh-year Hufflepuff finally nodded in agreement.

"And here's where I take over." Cadie grinned, flicking her light brown hair over her shoulder. I tried not to drool in jealousy (honestly, she got better genes for hair than I did. I had straight, dark brown hair. She had wavy, light brown hair. Fair? No, not at all.) "First, you need to pick the spell."

"Summoning charm." I supplied right away.

"Yeah," Tammy agreed, "That way we'll be able to see if it's working."

"Good idea," Stan grinned from the corner.

"So you're going to think the spell really hard in your head, and do the wand motions. And don't forget to concentrate on the object." Cadie instructed. Tammy and I caught each other's eyes and nodded in encouragement. "Right, so go!"

_ACCIO CHAIR!_ I basically screamed in my mind. The chair in question twitched. Past that, I got no reaction. Tammy did worse than me, I think, but I don't know what she was trying to move. Jenny and Stan giggled quietly from the corner of the dusty classroom.

By the time we were ready to leave the classroom, we had still not furthered our spell-casting. I, however, had a splitting headache, and Tammy was starving.

"Don't feel down, kiddies." Stan ruffled our hair. I swatted his hand away irritably, but Tammy just groaned and slumped dramatically against my brother before falling to the floor.

"Too late, they're down." Dick laughed as I bent to pull Tammy's arms up.

We made it in time for dinner, all of us laughing good naturedly. My headache was slowly dulling, and with the prospect of food, I was beginning to cheer up. Tammy left with a chipper little wave, and headed to her other friends at the Ravenclaw table. I was putting my stuff down at the Hufflepuff table when Lily apprehended me.

"Genre, Mary and I wanted to talk to you, if you have time?" She asked, smiling broadly. I glanced at Stan and Cadie, but they both seemed cool with me not eating with them.

"Sure." I agreed, and reloading my bag and books into my arms before following Lily across the Great Hall.

"Okay, so we have an idea!" Mary wasted no energy on nothing-pleasantries. She didn't even wait for Lily and me to settle into the bench at the Gryffindor table. I dropped my books and bag onto the floor by my feet, and pulled the bronze plate closer to me before reaching for the spoon in the mashed potatoes.

"What is it?" I finally asked when she paused for more than a few seconds and I realized she was waiting for me to prompt her. Linda and Penny, our other two dorm mates, scooted closer.

"We're going to have a party." Lily whispered conspiratorially.

"A party?" I felt a flutter in my belly, a happy flutter at being included. Of course, we all tended to be civil to each other, but we had never _done_ anything together!

"A back to school party." Penny informed me, a grin lightening on her too-thin lips. I felt the corner of my lips rising in a smile to meet hers. "We've been here for what, almost three weeks now? And we haven't even celebrated the beginning of our OWL year!"

"I'm not sure it's even something to celebrate," I laughed louder than I intended.

"Maybe not, but we're celebrating it anyways." Lily bounced eagerly in her seat.

"When is it?" I asked.

"We're thinking about this weekend." Linda leaned forward, her honey-colored hair brushing the top of the table. My hair was only long enough to do that if I was slouching.

"Sounds good. Do I need to get anything for it?" I asked, since the other girls seemed to have worked out the fine details.

"Just your beautiful self," Lily winked at me, and we all burst into giggles. Mentally, I told myself to bring chocolate or pie or some sort of desert. I would just have to find out how to get into the kitchens first, but it probably wouldn't be too hard. I had heard rumors that it was near the Hufflepuff common room.

* * *

Two days later it was Saturday, and I had yet to find someone who knew exactly where the kitchen was. Our party was going to be a small one – it was mostly just the girls from our dorm, along with two Ravenclaw girls and a Hufflepuff girl. Regardless, we were all pretty excited for it. I was prowling the hallway around my brother's common room, but so far I hadn't seen any house elves, or anyone walking around with a tray of food. So really, I was just dumb out of luck.

"What is this?" I heard someone behind me exclaim with false surprise. I turned around warily, though the voice hadn't sounded mean.

"I do believe it's a little lion gal." Potter proclaimed, slinging his arm around Black's shoulder. I stiffened visibly, although I didn't mean to. They made me nervous though, even with Pettigrew and Lupin lurking behind them.

"It is, in fact, a little lion gal." Black agreed.

"'Lo, Pokeby." Lupin muttered uncomfortably from behind his friends.

"Hi," I said slowly, my eyes trained for a wand. They weren't known for pranking their own house, but one could never be too safe.

"So what do we find you down here for?" Potter asked, removing his arm from his friend and sauntering past me, towards a fruit painting down a little farther.

"I was getting something to snack on from the kitchen." I said as confidently as I could. Hopefully I was in the right area, otherwise I would have sounded pretty stupid.

"We'll join you then, we were doing the same." Black said loftily, heading past me to follow Potter. Pettigrew skirted around me, acting like I had kicked him the last time we had partnered together in Care of Magical Creatures. I chose to ignore his behavior, and followed the boys warily, hoping they weren't leading me in the wrong direction. Potter was still at the painting though, and he was…was he tickling? He was tickling the pear in the painting. I watched in trepidation as the portrait swung open, revealing a door. The kitchen.

There were house elves inside, but I had already guessed that. I was struggling to keep the awe off my face as I looked around me. I knew the kitchen had to be big, after all it was feeding close to three hundred students three times a day. It was huge though, passing any expectations I had. There were over thirty stoves, scattered around with no seeming order, and something large resembling a giant block of ice with a door in the center of the room. There were tables and cabinets, all of mixed colored wood, and chairs and stools to match, everywhere. And there were at least a hundred elves, sharing counter and table space.

"Young masters!" A high, reedy voice pitched somewhere around my hips. I looked down to see an older elf, who was smiling cheerfully beneath his rather large, hooked nose. (Maybe he was related to Severus Snape?) His ears were switching up and down, and I almost laughed at his comical expression. "You brought a guest!"

"Er…Yeah. Can we get some ham or something of the sort? Maybe some rolls and pumpkin juice to go with it?" Black requested, his tone surprisingly unsure, as if he didn't know quite how to treat the elf.

"Right away, sirs!" The little elf scampered off while I tried not to take offense at being a "master" and "sir." I wasn't particularly girly – I was well aware of the fact. But I still looked feminine, and it rankled to not have that recognized. It wasn't the first time.

"What did you want?" Lupin asked, his hazel eyes meeting mine. My heart skipped a beat. It did that when I was talking to males who weren't Dick or Stan.

"Just some chocolate and a couple jugs of pumpkin juice, if they're available, please." I directed the comment to an elf – one who I was reasonably sure was a girl – and she nodded, a bright grin breaking across her face.

"So, little lion gal, what are you getting jugs of pumpkin juice for?" Potter asked, running his hand through his hair which was beginning to look a little greasy. His shirt didn't look particularly clean, either, now that I looked at it. If I had to guess, I'd say he'd just rolled out of bed without taking time to tidy up. His eyes were blinking owlishly behind his thick lens as he stared at me, and I almost started when I realized how similar to Lupin's they were.

"Probably a party." Peter piped up for the first time. I couldn't face him, because of the derisive tone he'd used. That tone coming from the fifth-year's laughingstock, mind you.

Black snorted, but I ignored him in favor of facing the three elves that were trundling over, weighed down by blocks of chocolate, what looked to be éclairs, and jugs of pumpkin juice. I smiled.

"Thank you!" I said politely, and the elves beamed at me.

"Do you need help – " Potter started to offer, but I had already whipped my reed wand out, and flicked it into the air.

"Wingardium Leviosa." I murmured quietly, and the juice and chocolate followed me out of the room, which I left as gracefully as I could, hoping not to run into the boys again. I was awkward around most boys, although there were a few exceptions. Bertram didn't bother me too badly, mostly because I'd had so many classes with him and he was generally well behaved, albeit talkative. My brother and Dick didn't bother me because we all practically lived together…literally, in the case of Stan. Older men, like my dad and his buddies, didn't bother me either. They were usually pretty polite to me. But boys my age like Potter and them? They were trouble-makers. They made me nervous, and I was a nervous enough person as it was.

Sometimes I got anxious walking through the halls alone at night. See? I was just a carbon-cased bundle of nerves. The hallways in most of the castle were quite dark, especially the inner halls, with no windows. Because the ceiling was so high in a large portion of the castle, the flickering lights tended to be absorbed by the atmosphere. Despite the surrounding environment of creepiness, I managed to make it back to the common room without even spilling any food. Up in the dorm, I was greeted with cheers as the girls immediately began parceling out the goods. It was going to be a fantastic night. Daisy Pennifold, from Ravenclaw, was there with Tammy, and Honoria from Hufflepuff. We all giggled as we settled in on the floor space at the foot of the beds.

"What should we do first?" Lily Evans asked. Quite clearly, none of us had thrown a party before.

"Let's eat before anything else." Penny grinned, grabbing an éclair from the pile of food.

"Do we have cups for the juice?" I asked, realizing I hadn't collected any down in the kitchens.

"We can just drink from the jugs." Tammy shrugged, demonstrating by taking a swig and grinning, after wiping off her dusky lips. We all laughed, and contented ourselves with munching away. I was feeling oddly giddy at being included in the group – most of the time I was secluded away with my siblings and their friends.

It wasn't long that our conversations turned to gossip. Honoria, the only Hufflepuff there, had a secret she had overheard from Professor Sprout, the new, young Herbology professor.

"Professor Beery, from last year?" she waited for our nods to show we were all on the same page. "He didn't _retire._" Her blonde hair glistened, and she flicked it irritably out of her face. "He quit! To teach at The Wizarding Academy of the Dramatic Arts!" Honoria guffawed.

"Beery wants to teach there?" We all giggled at the tone Linda's voice had.

"I can just see it now," Mary started, but then she burst into laughter and couldn't speak.

"The most drama that man has ever seen," I broke in, "is from when he mistook the Flitterbloom for a Devil's Snare!"

Tammy and Linda were shrieking with laughter, and the other girls all grinned appreciatively as we all remembered Professor Beery's squeal during a tour of the grounds. Fleetingly, I wondered if that's perhaps why he had left. The embarrassment might have been too much.

There was more gossip after that – which celebrities were going out with whom, and which students in Hogwarts were doing what. By far the most interesting gossip came from Honoria and Linda, both who seemed to know where to get the juiciest secrets. All of us were now aware that Regulus Black had been caught snogging Rose Riley, who had turned around and promptly walked out because she had snogged "mudbloods with better control of their tongue, thank you very much." We had another hoot over that story.

It was a surprise when, of all people, Lily pulled a bottle out from her trunk. We all gasped in mock horror as we stared in fascination. Were we actually going to drink it? Yes, we were.

"We don't have glasses," Lily whispered, "so we'll have to share the bottle." And then she tipped it back and took a giant gulp before gasping and rubbing her watering eyes. "Oi, that tastes quite strong." And it did taste strong, when I got a swig. It was firewhiskey, a drink I'd never had before, and it warmed me all the way down to my gut.

The firewhiskey kept making rounds amongst us, and we got increasingly more giggly. I don't know everything that happened, because pretty early on, I fell asleep right where I sat on the floor.

* * *

Hola! I know this one was a bit longer than the others – I was trying to find a good cut-off point. I'll probably post one more time this weekend, so until then, toodle-pip!


	5. Play for Hearts

Harry Potter = not mine

* * *

**Play for Hearts**

"Good thing it's a Sunday." Tammy moaned, holding her head with her dark hands. I groaned in agreement, squinting at the table. We had arrived at the latter end of breakfast. The rest of the girls had gotten sick at the mention of more food, but I found myself to be quite peckish.

"I wish the hall were quieter though." I muttered. Tammy nodded, and plopped down on the bench next to me, obviously not having the energy to travel to the Ravenclaw table.

"Pass the eggs, will you?"

"Only if you pass the milk."

And after those two comments, we fell into a companionable silence. My headache was slowly easing up, and I began eating with more gusto. By the time the empty plates were disappearing, both Tammy and I were satiated.

For a while, we wandered around the oppressive inner halls of the castle, but by the time our hangovers were gone altogether, we headed outside. It wasn't long before we were trying to use silent magic.

"This would have made a great drinking game for last night," I snorted, after another failed attempt to summon a blade of grass, "each time you don't get it to work, you take a sip."

"We were all drunk enough as it was." Tammy laughed quietly, and then we continued concentrating.

Finally, after at least an hour of concentration (Tammy had fallen asleep in the grass at my side), I summoned the grass without saying a word. I was so elated that I kept trying, even though I kept messing up. It was a long process, but I was able to cast the summoning charm silently before I woke Tammy up. I kept my progress to myself, not wanting to get her down, but I was certainly thrilled. That night, I shared my success with Lily, who beamed at me.

"That's great!" She said, rather enthusiastically.

"Keep it down." Penny grunted, still suffering (I suspected she was seeking attention) from drinking the night before.

"Have you tried any other spells?" Lily asked, quieter this time.

"Not yet." I mumbled back to her, laying back on my pillow and hugging my stuffed sheep to my chest. But it left me wondering all night how difficult it would be to do other spells silently. I was still riding high from my success, and wanting to try more. Not that night though, because I had class early the next day. I would try again soon, though.

I found myself practicing silent magic at the oddest times – I would be sitting at the breakfast table with my siblings, and silently attempt to switch their drinks, or trying to transcribe my notes in class without holding the quill myself. I had varying degrees of success, and slowly, Tammy began to share them.

It was midway through October, right before our first trip to Hogsmeade, that my life began picking up pace. For a while it had been only spell casting, food, studying, and the occasional foray with my siblings and their friends, and now Tammy too. I was in Transfigurations, though, and struggling to finish up my essay for Potions, when Bertram and Crispin interrupted me.

"Look, Genre," Bertram slid into his seat a little heavily. "I have a question for you."

Crispin glowered at him, his thick brow drawing down.

"What is it?" I mumbled, a little distracted.

"Go to Hogsmeade with me?" He asked.

"Hogsmeade?" I looked up, startled.

"Don't think that you have to go with him," Crispin cut in, "You do have other options."

I sat for a moment in stunned silence, my quill frozen above my parchment. Remember when I said guys made me nervous, but not guys like Crispin and Bertram? I was retracting that statement, right then and there.

"Er…I'm going with my brother and sister. Sorry. Maybe next time," I silently cursed at myself for adding in the 'maybe next time,' but honestly, I was lonely. I would have liked to have a boyfriend.

"Well then, maybe come sit with me for dinner sometime. Think about it." Bertram smiled at me. I just nodded, still too shocked to say anything intelligent.

Later on that week, after Ancient Runes, another person stopped me. I didn't even know his name, but he didn't seem like the type who would be interested in someone as silent as me. I was pretty sure he was on the Hufflepuff quidditch team.

"What's going on?" I moaned to Stan and Cadie later that day. "Is there a pool running to see who I'll say yes to?"

"I'll keep my ears open for it," Cadie shrugged, but I could tell she didn't seem too interested. The thing is, I knew something had to be going on. Boys didn't ask me out, except for once in a while. I wasn't ugly, but I wasn't a stunning beauty either. I had dark brown hair that fell flat down my back to the bottom of my shoulder blades. I had cut-across bangs, and nondescript dark eyes. My skin tended to run a little pasty since I spent most of my time indoors, and although I was thin, I wasn't toned at all. I was sort of tall, with very few curves to speak off. Basically, what it came down to, was that I wasn't a guy magnet. So when more than one guy asked me out in a week, I knew something was up.

The next person who asked me out was Sirius Black. I accidentally laughed, because my theory had been proven right. I don't know who was more surprised – Black and his friends who had been hovering nearby, or Tammy and I.

"We need to figure out what the game is," Tammy said to me one afternoon as we rushed to finish our History of Magic essay and our assigned reading for Transfigurations. "Maybe if there's a bet running on money you can cut a deal with someone."

"Maybe." I agreed quietly, but I didn't want to tell her that it actually hurt my feelings that the only attention I got from males was when there was a money pool involved.

To my great surprise, it was Snape who solved the mystery for me after Jennings Jenkins (a family name, he assured me) accidentally knocked too many dragonfly thoraxes into our Girding Potion while stammering an invitation to join him at Hogsmeade to me.

"Just say yes to someone already so the damn betting can stop." Snape snarled at me, his thin lips twisting in a horrifying way.

"Who's running the bet?" I asked.

"You know who." He growled, and then continued ignoring me as he usually did.

Lily stopped me after class, ignoring Potter who hovered nearby as he usually did. She seemed sympathetic, and just fell in step beside me for a minute or two. When I paused to study a painting of three goats pushing and shoving each other to be pet by a scruffy looking wizard, she paused as well.

"Don't worry about the bet." She finally said. I turned towards her.

"Do you know who it is running it?" I asked.

"I've got a fair idea who." She glowered. That answered it for me.

"Potter." I said it simply, closing my eyes.

_One…_

_Two…_

_ Three…_

"I didn't know at first, but I heard him crowing about it earlier." Lily admitted, not realizing that I was holding in check my infamous temper. (Infamous only to my family, I should clarify. No one else ever really saw me angry.)

"What's the winning?" I asked, keeping my voice low so she wouldn't hear the fury simmering in it.

"I don't know." Lily said sadly. I glanced down at the badge on her chest, the one that gleamed 'Prefect' in nice polished letters.

"I said something to Professor McGonagall about it." She told me, after following my gaze and realizing I thought she hadn't done anything. "I would have tried to stop it myself if I thought those toerags would listen." She huffed angrily and I finally smiled a little, although I didn't much feel like smiling.

"Don't worry about it Lily. It'll stop sooner or later." At least I hoped it would, otherwise I would never be able to say yes to anyone without wondering if it was part of a bet.

Now that I knew for sure it was a bet, it was way easier to find a solution. I just avoided all men that weren't Dick or Stan. In class, I switched seats (except for in Potions, since those seats were assigned) and during meals I made sure I was surrounded on all sides. That's not to say that people stopped asking me out, it's just that it was made more difficult for them.

* * *

Author's Note: Thank you story2tell for the encouraging review :) I don't really have any important note. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for bearing with me these last two and a half weeks – my internet was out and it took this long to get it fixed. (It was totally my puppy's fault; she chewed through the cable. Oops.) I'll probably post once on Saturday and once during the week from hereon out, though, so cheers!


	6. Betting and Apologizing

Regular disclaimer here...

* * *

**Betting and Apologizing**

The offers didn't dwindle until after Hogsmeade. Once that date passed, the offers stopped almost altogether. I didn't even go to Hogsmeade, electing instead to hole myself up in the dorm and complete all my assignments. I finished early enough that I was even able to get in some practice with my silent spells. I was getting much better – I didn't have the same success rate as my usual casts, but I was failing only once or twice now instead of most of the time. On my own, I was able to perform most spells I had already learned non-verbally now. I was even skipping ahead in my Charms book, learning to cast some new spells silently. I was having more trouble with the Transfiguration spells, but with more practice I was bound to get it.

"Genre!" Mary sang, skipping into the room, followed closely by Tammy who was increasingly spending more and more time in the Gryffindor common room.

"We got you a treat since you didn't come with us!" Tammy grinned, shoving her black hair roughly out of her face.

"What is it?" I asked curiously, dislodging several texts as I stood up.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans!" Lily exclaimed from behind them, and Mary handed me a HUGE bag, brimming full with packs of the every-flavored beans. I grinned in anticipation. These were my favorite candy ever.

"Thank you!" I said with a childish voice, already stuffing two beans in my mouth. One, I suspected the red one, tasted strongly of cinnamon and apples. The other, probably the grey one, tasted like sand. I made a face, and offered the bag to the rest of the girls. We all munched as they told me about their day.

"We were in that new tea shop, the one that just opened up," Mary began dramatically.

"It was absolutely horrid," Tammy cut her off.

"Anyways, we were in the tea shop and we noticed Potter and his friends all arguing. I slipped out to listen in." Mary didn't even blush with her admission to eavesdropping, and I smiled as I listened to the story unfold (although the smile faded with the flavor of chicken liver from a particularly foul bean). "Lupin was telling Potter and Black that the betting should end, and they were both wishy-washying all over the place! First one would say no, and then the other would say maybe, and then they would switch positions! That shifty kid, Pettigrew, he was egging them on for keeping the bet running. They saw me though before they finished the argument."

"Wow." I said, chewing thoughtfully on my parchment flavored snack.

"Hopefully it means the drama is over." Lily smiled pleasantly and reached out for another handful of beans. I passed the bag over.

"Hopefully." I agreed.

* * *

Winter weather was rushing in early, and not even a week after the Hogsmeade trip it was snowing. I loved the snow, and spent more time outside than I normally would.

"Our last year is already almost half-way over." Stan observed mournfully.

"I don't like thinking about it." Jenny scrunched up her nose.

"It's scary." Cadie added, nodding sagely.

"Definitely." Dick agreed, slanting his eyes my way. "You're lucky you're just a fifth-year."

I didn't respond, occupied as I was in making a snow-castle, complete with twigs as columns and rafters. I was thinking about what they said, though, and it was scary. When they left school, I wouldn't have a buffer. It wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be, since now I had more friends like Tammy and Lily, but it was an uncomfortable thought. Stan and Cadie had always been there.

"I think the scariest part is going to be the Death Eaters." Jenny shuddered delicately. That paused my snow-architecture. Somehow I had managed to ignore the news of Death Eaters all year. In my mind, I knew they existed. I wasn't foolish enough to think they didn't, as some people argued. But surely the Ministry would have it taken care of soon enough…

"Start dating an auror, then." Dick teased.

"That'll just make you more of a target," Cadie pointed out.

Was there a solution? I wondered, but the most obvious solution was just to take care of yourself. Jenny was a decent witch, but not confident enough to perform good defense magic, I thought. The four of them together, though, would be a force worth reckoning with. They would stay together, I was sure. After all, they were all interested in magical creatures. It made so much sense for them to always be together.

"Oi, Genre!" I heard someone call from a distance. I straightened up from my position over the snow-castle I was building and looked around. There were several students, but I didn't see who had called my name.

"Genre!" They called again.

"Over there," Cadie nodded over to my right, and I glanced over. It was Potter, his glasses askew and his cheeks bright red from the cold. He was jogging over, but he kept stumbling in the ankle-deep snow. I stiffened, wondering if he was coming over to make a spectacle of the bet he had started. I was still stinging from the indignity of it.

"Genre," he panted, finally coming to a halt in front of me. "I've been trying to find you all day. McGonagall called me into her office to berate me for setting a bet about you, but I swear it wasn't me."

"You're the one who started that shit?" Stan growled, stepping mostly in front of me.

"Uhm, no, I didn't. That's what I just said." Potter's hazel eyes narrowed. I glanced at him, wondering at the wisdom in trusting him.

"What about what Lily overheard then?" I finally asked, curiosity warring out over my urge to stay silent.

"What did Lily overhear?" Potter asked, his hair quickly reaching up to mess his hair a little, as it always did when Lily was nearby or mentioned.

"She said you were crowing about it before Potions a while back." I answered. My siblings were flanking me now, both standing ahead of me with their wands out. I wasn't sure if I should be embarrassed, or if it was even worth being embarrassed about. Sure, I could take care of myself…but I liked it better when I didn't have to. Potter's face was screwed up as he tried to think back to what could have been said.

"I think she's talking about another bet." Was the flimsy excuse he came up with.

"I'm sure that's exactly what happened," Stan said, disbelief coloring his tone.

"No, really! I had a bet with the other boys about Pad- I mean, Sirius. He thought no girl would ever turn him down. Genre here did, though, so I won seventeen sickles and three galleons." His face was so blatantly obvious that I was once again torn. On one hand, I definitely did believe him, but on the other hand, he had been such a handy scapegoat.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. I'm not particularly bothered by it." I finally said. It was a lie, but I was willing to pretend it was true.

"If we find out who it really was, I'll let you know." Potter said seriously.

"Thanks for that." I nodded at him, and he took his leave.

"I wonder if it was him or not?" Jenny mused out loud.

"I don't know." Dick shrugged, and then it was all forgotten in light of more important things.

The rest of October went by quickly, followed by November. Mid-year exams were fast pulling up, and the girls and I were all busy sharing notes on every subject imaginable. It was a huge bustle, and we took to finding empty classrooms to practice in, sometimes so late into the night that we didn't dare head back to our rooms for fear of being caught. Those were the nights that we made use of our practice and conjured pillows and blankets. Those also tended to be the nights that we got less studying done because we were so busy giggling and gossiping.

* * *

Author's Note: So work/home/school has been _crrraaazzzzyyy_ lately. I'm going to be so happy when it's the weekend!


	7. Landmine Badgers

As I am forced to face, I do not own Harry Potter. Any characters not recognized by J.K. Rowling are of my creation, however :)

* * *

**Landmine Badgers**

December had just started and we only had one weekend left before we began exams. None of us were worried – because we had started our revisions and studying so early, we were all very confident, even Penny who had the hardest time grasping spells. Penny and Linda didn't always study with us, and Honoria only did once in a while. Tammy, Lily, Mary and I spent much of our time practicing though, and Tammy finally picked up on wordless magic as well. That was our secret, the four of us. Since it wouldn't be taught for another year, it was fun to see how good we could get at it.

The slushy snow had turned into thick, powdery snow over the last month, and I was bundled up outside. Jenny, Dick, Stan, and Cadie were prodding at some hibernating bowtruckles. I was a safe distance away, playing with the fringe of my gold and red scarf as I watched them, nervously shifting from foot to foot. The second one of those bowtruckles woke up, I was going to be out of there like a bat from hell.

"Genre!" I heard someone yell. This time I recognized it as Potter's voice. I didn't turn to find him, but my ears tingled in embarrassment.

"Lion gal!" Someone else yelled.

"We're right here, you can probably stop your yelling." A third voice admonished.

"If you guys ruin our studies, we're turning you in to Professor Dumbledore." Cadie said with a sneer, turning around to level her dark eyes at the boys. One of them had just slung his arm over my shoulder.

"We won't ruin your studies. Come on over here, Genre, we have something to tell you!" Potter turned me around, his arm still resting across my upper back, and pulled me away from my siblings and their friends. I cast a glance at them, and saw Stan and Cadie staring intently, but they didn't seem particularly worried.

"So here's the deal, little lion gal," Black said, crouching down in the snow. Potter plopped down, pulling me down with him. I winced, knowing my trousers were sure to be sopping wet after this. Lupin crouched, like Black, but Pettigrew sat down too, his cheeks turned bright red by the cold. He might have even been more red than I was.

"I told you we would let you know if we ever learned anything about that bet, from back when, remember?" Potter asked, removing his arm, obviously sure I wasn't about to take off. I nodded, but kept my mouth zipped. I was pretty sure I didn't like sitting in the middle of all of them like this, especially with my seat right in the freezing cold, wet snow.

"We found out who it was!" Black pumped his fist into the air, opening it for a high five which Potter gave him.

I didn't respond, unsure of what this meant. Were they helping me? Was this just a plot to throw me off their tracks? Anyway, the bet had happened so long ago that I was willing to forget about it. I wondered if anyone had bet I would say 'no' to everyone, because if so, they had won.

"Don't you want to know?" Lupin asked, his hazel eyes appearing amber with the dim winter sun reflecting in them. He sounded positively curious, and even tilted his head to the side. I shrugged. Did I want to know? Sort of. But I was happier not knowing.

Unaware of my inner struggle, Potter broke in, "It was Bertram Aubrey!"

"No way!" I exclaimed, a puff of moisture rising in the air. I slapped my hand over my mouth right after, but it was too late. I had already shared my disbelief. After all, Bertram had always been quite pleasant to me.

"It's true." Peter Pettigrew nodded his head, his blue eyes watering from the icy air.

"How do you know?" I asked, struggling to get up out of the snow. Potter put a hand on my arm, pausing me.

"We just traced the trails." He said earnestly. I knocked his hand off and stood up, smarting from embarrassment and disappointment. Bertram had done it? That hardly seemed fair.

"Right. Well thanks for telling me." I nodded at them, and spun to leave before they could get a good look at my face. I didn't want it to be Bertram. A Slytherin, sure. I wouldn't have put it past that Malfoy kid in my sibling's year, but surely not Bertram.

I was in a foul mood after that, so I didn't go back to where my siblings were. Instead, I headed inside the grey stone walls of Hogwarts. Of course, since I wasn't in Divination, I had no idea what I was walking into – or to be more specific, who I was walking into.

"Genre," Bertram smiled pleasantly into my face. Crispin stood stoically behind him.

"Oh, shove off." I muttered, pushing him away from me and hurrying out of the Great Hall. I wanted to be – well somewhere. Maybe not the common room, because I was sure to run into Lily or Mary, and they would want to know exactly why I was acting so bitterly at the moment.

Where then? Wandering through the halls, I was also bound to run into someone I knew. I almost did on the seventh floor, by the painting of Barnabas the Barmy. Honoria, the queen of gossip, was coming down the perpendicular hall. With a quick turn, I hurried back the way I came, but I could hear other people down that way, so I spun back, trying to decide what the lesser of two evils was. There was a door right by me, though, one I hadn't noticed before, so I dove into it just in the nick of time.

"What in the name of Merlin?" I whispered softly. I couldn't have chosen a better room to wander into. It was nice and warm, so I could shed my scarf and damp cloak. There were candle-lit lamps scattered about on the floor, leaving a pleasant cozy glow, and there were cushions spread about the floor, with stacks of books all over the place. It was the exact sort of thing I did to my room at home when I was particularly distraught. Especially since, as I picked up a book, the texts seemed to focus on wand lore. I loved wand lore, and I was always trying to find out exactly what was in the center of mine.

I don't know how long I had been in the room, but the candles were all flickering down to nothing when I finally stood, stretching out my sleeping limbs. I had read through at least three quarters of the first book, and learned some interesting things. For example, when wands were first made, they very rarely used magical animal parts. Instead, they contained magical herbs. The downside of that was that they were rarely good for more than one type of magic and they left a very obvious scent behind every time someone cast with one. From there, wands had evolved to use small bits of magical creatures. The most common examples were dragon heartstring or a hair from unicorn tail. There were more rare occasions from phoenix ashes or feathers, ground hippogriff claw (I shuddered), Veela hair, and (this one surprised me) dried vampire blood. I studied my fourteen inch, light colored wand as I waited for the blood to flow normally again through my legs. It was a reasonably thin wand, so it probably didn't have dragon heartstring in it, as those wands tended to be thicker to support the weight of the heartstring. My guess was still unicorn tail, but now that I looked at the wand, that didn't seem quite right. I would probably never know.

The room had been just what I needed to calm my anger down. I was in a surprisingly pleasant mood when I headed down to eat dinner with my siblings. They weren't at the Hufflepuff table, though, and nor were they at the Ravenclaw table when I swiveled to check. Tammy was there waving at me, so I headed over anyways.

"Where have you been all day?" She demanded to know, shoving her frizzy hair out of her face.

"I've just been reading a bit." I told her, pulling a plate to me.

"I've been searching for you all day! I have a ton of questions!" She pulled a bit of parchment out of her bag, and begin picking my brain for finer details we would never need to know for exams but freaked out over anyways. And for the rest of the weekend, we all did that. We all studied and we all freaked out.

* * *

Monday morning came much faster than any of us wanted, and when it came none of us were happy. That's what I thought, anyways, until I entered the Great Hall.

"Who," I breathed in surprise, "did that?"

"Whoever it was must have been a genius." I heard Potter say, and turned in time to see him preening. I started laughing, which stopped his preening but made Lupin smile.

"Or just plain foolish." I snorted, and then walked furtively to the Gryffindor bench for breakfast. So much for pre-exam nerves.

"This is ridiculous!" Lily said in an aggravated tone, being forced to do an odd sort of spin to avoid the mess.

It seemed the boys had decided to disrupt the exam days as they did annually. This year they had outdone themselves – the floor was covered in "landmines," one of which was currently harassing Lily. I waved my wand at it, concentrating on the stupefying spell in my head. It froze. These weren't the type of land mines I saw on the muggle news; they were in the shape of the house mascots. The snake I had just stupefied was a frozen green coil, but some yellow badgers were moving in. Whenever one was bumped into by a person, it exploded with a blast of paint in the color of the house. There were two particularly disgruntled Sytherins who were dripping red paint only a few feet away.

"I'm impressed." Tammy chirped, popping up between Lily and me. Her blue tie had just a splatter of blue paint on it. At least it blended in.

"I'm just annoyed." Mary announced as we all shifted carefully around the mines and onto the bench at the table.

"Potter! Black!" McGonagall barked from up near the head table. From the looks of things, she had managed to avoid the mines pretty well herself. Professor Sprout, the new, young Herbology professor, wasn't so lucky. She didn't seem upset, though, and was humming to herself as she spooned some porridge onto her plate.

"They're in for it now!" Lily cackled.

"What about the other two? Do you suppose they'll get in trouble too?" Tammy asked.

"They might." I answered with a shrug, seeking to find where they were. Potter and Black were blasting a path through their creations, splattering paint left and right. Lupin was leaning back against a column, a cocky smirk on his face, and Pettigrew was beside him, alternating between looking nervous and looking quite pleased. "But probably not." I decided. After all, Potter and Black wouldn't turn their friends in.

We skirted carefully out of the hall after breakfast, avoiding the numerous mines still lumbering and slithering around. The hardest ones to avoid were the blue eagles that kept dive-bombing at people. Somehow, we made it to class relatively clean, just in time for our Transfigurations exam. The sad thing is, I had forgotten about my ordeal with Bertram, so when I reached class I paused uncomfortably. Where was I supposed to sit? Bertram had turned to face me, as if sensing my discomfort, but before he had a chance to say anything I felt someone else's hand on my lower back.

"Over here," Remus Lupin said with a smile, "no need to sit next to that wanker."

"True that." I smiled in appreciation, setting into a seat at the table between Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. I was a little nervous, but we were just taking an exam, so it's not like they'd have a chance to even talk to me. Plus Sirius Black and James Potter were still being scolded by Professor McGonagall, and all three were MIA.

They appeared shortly after, and I busied myself capping off my quill with ink in preparation, trying hard not to see their reactions. It didn't matter in the least, because McGonagall directed them both to different seats. Black was sitting next to Bertram, I noticed. I hoped Bertram and Black would get into a fight. Surprisingly, they did get into a bit of a scuffle during the exam. I was almost done with my own exam, just struggling to remember the exact spelling of the spell to turn tableware into small rodents, when the class started tittering. I glanced over, and sure enough Bertram was scowling furiously at his quill which seemed to be writing all over his exam on its own. Black was biting his lip in an attempt to not laugh. His fingers were rested lightly on his wand.

"Calm down over there!" Professor McGonagall snarled. The laughing stopped. Bertram regained control of his quill. I went back to finishing my own work. I was checking it for the second time when the giggling resumed. I glanced over to see Bertram's quill dancing up in the air. Black definitely wasn't using his wand, so I glanced to the table where Potter was. His wand was out, hidden under his desk. He looked pretty focused on the quill. Lily, behind him, was glaring, mouthing obscenities under her breath.

"No more of this nonsense." Professor McGonagall snapped, standing at the front of the room furiously, searching for the perpetrator. Her eyes paused on me for a second, probably because I wasn't sitting in my usual seat. I made a show of looking around for the perpetrator as well. Her square-glasses turned in another direction.

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Thank you to my reviewers, story2tell and Suni-Dlight :) I listened to your suggestion and did try to make it a little longer! I'll see what I can do about adding a bit of length to the chapters. I know the first couple were a bit short. Anywho, I hope y'all had a lovely weekend, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	8. A Dubious Pleasure

As always, the recognized characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The Pokeby family (this generation) is mine. Enjoy!

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**A Dubious Pleasure**

The rest of the week went similarly, and the boys outdid themselves trying to prank everyone every day. I did end up getting hit by a dungbomb during one of their more erratic attacks. All four of them had a detention to serve, separately. Lily, Tammy, Mary and I gloated about it between doing revisions for our remaining exams.

That winter break was oddly quiet. Stan and Cadie were holed up in the room they shared, filling out applications and writing letters asking for jobs so they could begin working directly after school. My mom and dad spent a lot of time with me, but they were writing for most of it. Dad spelled his papers to the table so they wouldn't shift – obviously he couldn't hold the papers down himself while he was writing. I wondered if he was afraid of dragons now, too, but he never acted like it. Neither did Mom, but she spent a lot of time fingering her scars when she was super concentrated. I noticed things like that.

In general, my family was a very quiet family. Sitting at dinner we had normal conversations, but everything important that we ever told each other was expressed through looks or gestures. As writers, I always felt my parents should be much more verbose. That's never how it was, though.

"How are classes going?" My mother would ask, but she would look at her plate as she said it. That meant that she really wanted to know if I found them interesting, and if I was going to continue with them.

"They're going great." I would reply. That meant I liked them. If I had said good, or fine, it would have meant they were just okay.

"They're almost done!" Cadie and Stan would gloat. That meant they were done with school, itching to get out.

And that's how most of our family conversations went.

Good-byes were even more awkward than dinner conversations.

"You be good." My dad would grunt.

"I plan on it." I would reply, and then we'd both nod heads at each other to prove we were on the same page.

"School's almost over anyways." Cadie would say. That meant her and Stan would be getting in lots of trouble, probably over lost or unfinished assignments. And then we'd board the train and find a compartment to meet Jenny and Dick in.

That's how my entire winter vacation went. I was happy to be back on the train, but sad at the same time. It was so easy to be with my family sometimes, mostly because they didn't expect much. Being back on the train meant being back with people who wanted everything – they wanted time, they wanted conversation, they wanted attention. In a way, I liked it though. I liked being with Lily and Mary and Tammy, all three of which didn't want things for nothing. They gave me their time too, and their attention. So did Jenny and Dick, but surprisingly they weren't the only people I considered friends anymore. It was a nice feeling.

"Hey, lion gal!" I heard Potter call. I turned to him (there was a smile on my face – I think that shocked him because he paused and stuttered for a minute. I usually didn't smile at him) to see what he wanted. "Hey," he repeated, "do you know where Evans is? I wanted to see how her break went!"

"I haven't seen her yet." I replied.

"Oh, well how did your vacation go, then?" He asked, his hazel eyes roaming the immediate vicinity. I might have been offended, but I wasn't exactly surprised by the behavior.

"Well. Yours?" Since he was being rude, I scanned the crowd as well. Stan and Cadie had disappeared. They were probably already in a compartment. People kept pushing past me to get in their own apartments, so I stepped to the side. Potter followed suit.

"It was totally awesome." He grinned at me.

"Prongs!" Black shouted, raising his voice to be heard over the gabbing crowd.

"Padfoot!" Potter called back, his grin widening.

"Right, well, I'll talk to you later." I slipped away, wondering where to look for my siblings.

"Bye, lion gal!" I heard, and with surprise registered that it had been Lupin's voice. He didn't seem like the type to shout things like that.

"We were just getting ready to rescue you." Mary muttered in my ear, catching me unawares. I whirled to see her, and saw the wicked grin she had as she eyed the boys.

"We?" I asked, since I didn't see anyone else.

"Lily, Tammy and I. We're in this compartment over here." She pushed me through a door, and I stumbled over the stretched out legs of Lily.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that." She retracted her legs and smiled warmly at me. "I see you made it away from Potter in one piece."

"He was asking about you." I informed her, nudging Tammy with my shoulder so I could have the window seat. She laughed and gave it to me. I hoped Stan and Cadie still had my trunk.

"He's a smarmy toerag." Lily said, her cheeks turning bright red beneath the freckles. We all had a giggle about that.

For a while, they talked about their breaks and I listened. At some point during the long ride, the conversation turned to which classes we wanted to take the next year.

"I could go without Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology." I admitted bashfully.

"No!" Mary gasped dramatically. "You? Don't want to continue with Care of Magical Creatures? Say it's not so!" I laughed and she swept her light blonde curls over her shoulder as she swiped imaginary tears from her face.

"Personally, I rather enjoy Care of Magical Creatures. Maybe not Herbology, so much." Lily wrinkled her nose.

"It's too much dirt." Tammy deadpanned, even though Herbology was one of the only classes she could get good marks in consistently. "I do like Care of Magical Creatures, but it's not really important, is it?"

"I guess that depends on what you want to do after Hogwarts." Lily said seriously. We all fell silent for a bit, realizing the end of Hogwarts for us was only in a couple years. It wasn't that far away.

"I can see you being a Healer. You're definitely good enough at Potions for that." Mary said thoughtfully to the only redhead in the compartment.

"Too tame!" Lily shook her head wildly. "I'd rather be doing field work or something."

"Maybe you could be an Auror. We need them now, more than ever." Tammy said solemnly. It was true; I had actually been reading the newspaper at home, and there had been many "inexplicable" deaths. It was obviously a genocide, of sorts.

"Maybe." Lily said thoughtfully, rolling her green eyes up to the ceiling as she considered it.

"I wouldn't want to be an Auror. Too much risk." Mary snorted in a very unladylike manner. "I've been thinking about maybe working in the Foreign Magics department in the Ministry. It would give me a nice chance to travel."

"That would definitely suit you." Tammy nodded. "I'm more of a homebody, though. I want to do something important, I just don't know what."

"You could always teach." Lily pointed out. Tammy shrugged, but she didn't seem too thrilled at the prospect.

"What about you, Genre?" Mary turned to me. I had been thinking about what I wanted to do the entire time, but it hadn't taken much to reach a conclusion.

"Wand making." I said it slowly, tasting the word as it formed in my mind. It sounded right.

"Wow." Tammy frowned. "That would be cool."

"Yeah, it would be." I agreed.

There was a scratch that interrupted our talk, followed by the slick sound of the compartment door sliding open. Lily audibly groaned, and Mary leaned back against the seat with a grin. I turned a little pink and faced the window. I wasn't sure I wanted to be in the same compartment as Lily and Potter, because the damage tended to be pretty extensive.

"Evans!" Potter smirked triumphantly, running his fingers through his already messy hair.

"That's just going to make your hair greasy." It slipped out of my mouth before I realized I had said it, and I immediately clenched my lips tight. He stopped, looking at me with his mouth parted. The girls in my compartment all snorted. Even Black, behind Potter, kind of made a laugh-like noise. Lupin was full out grinning, and Pettigrew just looked like he was a bit confused. My heart hammered in my chest, and I turned away again, hoping he wouldn't retaliate.

"You wound me!" He cried. He didn't sound particularly wounded, though. "Hey Lily," his attention had already shifted, "want to see what I _snitched_ from the Quidditch locker before break?" None of us laughed at his pun, although I was a bit curious to see the snitch fluttering in his caged fingers.

"I'm not at all interested, Potter." Lily spat his name out like a curse.

"Ah, loosen up." He tried to slide onto the seat next to her, but she just moved further away from him.

"This might go on for a while." Lupin murmured, dropping one eyelid in a lazy wink, looking at Tammy and me.

"It wouldn't surprise me." Tammy smiled. I didn't respond. I wanted to, but I had nothing clever to say. I was silent, just like normal.

Black managed to squeeze into the seat on the other side of Lily. She glared ahead for a moment, obviously trying to keep her temper in check. I wanted to tell her to count to ten in her head. Sometimes it worked for me.

"You know what?" she said peevishly, "I'm just going to go to the Prefect's carriage." So she stood up and stormed out, sparks flying off the tip of her wand in warning.

"Now that she mentions it, I should probably go off, too." Lupin said, rather vaguely. I had a tendency of forgetting the Prefect's badge he hid on his shirt, mostly because his status did no good in keeping the boys in check.

"Oh sure, Moony," Black winked, "You go on and 'get off.'" Lupin rolled his eyes with an affectionate grin before turning to follow the angry witch ahead of him.

"I'll talk to you later." He called over his shoulder.

Mary, Tammy and I stared at each other a bit awkwardly for a moment. Were we supposed to converse with the other boys? Or were they just going to leave us be?

"So you wanna know what we did to Snivellus earlier?" Potter asked, crossing his legs up into Lily's vacated seat. He looked a little troubled at her departure, but obviously he was willing to overlook it in order to boast. Pettigrew inched into the compartment and sat far away from me. I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue at him – it looked silly for four of them to be squeezed on that one side of the compartment when only Tammy and I sat across from them. Black solved that though, by forcing his way between the two of us, and giving the other three more room.

"What did you do?" Mary asked, using a tone that said she didn't really care but she knew they'd tell her no matter what, so what did it really matter?

"First, we got him with a stinging hex." Potter grinned.

"And then I turned his trousers pink." Black said smugly.

"What did you do, Peter?" Tammy asked kindly. Peter glowered at her.

"He cheered us on." Potter laughed.

"Fascinating." I deadpanned.

"Ah, don't be so stuck up, lion gal." Black swung his arm around me. "We're just having a bit of fun."

"And he's a Slytherin. A nasty one, at that." Mary eyed Black's arm. I rolled my shoulders to dislodge it. She was right though – Snape was, in general, pretty rude to me. I was basically off the radar for most other Slytherins, though.

"So what's your name, lion gal?" Black asked me. Everyone in the compartment looked a little incredulous; we had, after all, been in the same year and house for four and a half years now.

"That's Genre, you twit." Potter laughed at his buddy, who playfully kicked at his shins.

"I'm Sirius." He held out his hand, the one I had knocked off my shoulder.

"It's a dubious pleasure, I'll admit." I shook his hand, but let go as soon as I could without bothering to be polite.

"Dubious? Why's that?" He asked, looking seriously confused.

"Because you are a notorious troublemaker, Sirius Black, that's why." Tammy said cheerfully, after snorting in disbelief.

"Someone's got to do it." Potter chortled. The other two boys both high-fived him.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was just some light fluffiness to fill a void. So anyways, I might post another chapter this weekend but I hesitate to promise I will – I'll be out of town and I'm not entirely sure what my itinerary is yet. Anywho, cheers! Thank you story2tell for always having something nice to say about my story :)


	9. Thestrals Need Love

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling (duh). I do not own Harry Potter (also duh). I do, however, own the original characters and plot of this story.

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The boys, as volatile as always, ditched us girls as soon as the train stopped. Pettigrew even had the nerve to whisper something about not being seen with people as uncool as we were.

"That git." Mary shook her head, and that was the end of our brief friendship with the class troublemakers.

Stan, Cadie, Jenny and Dick were getting increasingly busy, although I noticed none of them except for Dick seemed particularly worried about their grades. It was no real surprise with my siblings' track records.

I, on the other hand, was stressing out beyond belief, Tammy along with me. One essay after another, one reading after another. We had no spare time, and O.W.L.s were only two months away now.

"So wait," Tammy said to me as we sprawled out across the large blue couch in the Ravenclaw common room, "is the mark on the person or the animal?" I stared where she pointed in the book, equally confused.

"On both, right? Like, the distinguishing mark stays with you?" I tilted my head a bit to the side, as if that would make the text any easier to understand. A thirty-inch writing on Animagi – thirty inches! McGonagall was nuts, I decided. That was the only explanation.

"What do you think the mark could be?" Tammy rolled onto her back, chewing on the tip of her quill. I decided not to mention that she had a bit of ink staining her dark lips.

For a minute, we were both silent, trying to figure out what the distinguishing mark was referring to. McGonagall had demonstrated in class, but all I remember was that she turned into a tabby cat with –

"Oi!" I exclaimed. Tammy looked over, almost insultingly uninterested. "McGonagall!"

"What about her?" Tammy asked.

"Her glasses! The rectangle frames were still around her cat eyes." I was sure of it, even nodding emphatically to make my point. Tammy frowned.

"Huh. What do you think my mark would be?" I looked her over, trying to pick out something distinct. Her color came to mind, but I felt rude to say so. Her earrings, perhaps? Or maybe the very expressive curve of her eyebrows.

"I'm not sure." I admitted. "What animal do you think you would be?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said airily, "probably something silly, like a frog or a bird. What about you?"

"Dunno. I don't much like most animals. As long as I wasn't, say, a cockroach, I think I'd be alright."

I spent nights after that squeezing in a little bit of extra reading on becoming an Animagus. I don't know why I was so fixated on it, because I certainly didn't have the skills for it, but I was overly curious. I even approached McGonagall after class once, and asked her how one became a registered Animagus. She frowned – not like she was upset – and told me to spend some time thinking about it. If I was still interested in a year, she would work with me. I saw Lupin watching me thoughtfully after that, and I moved quickly from the room with a heavy blush. He probably thought I was a freak, asking something like that.

The next morning a notice was posted in the common room for all of the Gryffindor fifth years: in two weeks, we would have to meet with McGonagall to discuss our future plans. I was actually relieved that us girls had discussed the very thing on the train as it gave me more perspective. Sadly, not one of the informational pamphlets included wand-making.

Later that week, I ran into an unfortunate problem in three classes in a row. In a row. It started with Potions: Snape and I had to make a love potion. Actually, everyone in the class had to, but I was just unfortunate enough to be paired with him. He spent the entire time glowering at me, as if it was my fault we were in such an awkward position.

Lily raised her hand as Slughorn made his rounds.

"Amortentia is supposed to smell like a specific thing to each person, right?" She asked him. Potter and Snape were both staring at her reverently.

"That's right, my dear girl!" Slughorn beamed.

"Well, what if what you love changes? Does the smell change?" Lily questioned.

"I suppose it could, but don't mistake lust for love. Although this potion only creates lust, it is built off of love." Slughorn admonished her. She fell silent after that. I stared at the simmering cauldron between Snape and I, getting ready to stir it the last few times.

Potter turned, bumping into my arms.

I fell into Snape, who pushed me away like I was diseased.

The cauldron tipped, splashing over me a bit.

"Pokeby!" Slughorn gaped at me. "It didn't get on your skin, did it? Or in your mouth?"

"No, sir." I muttered, turning bright red with embarrassment. My hair was sticky though, so I swept it back and tied it up, away from my skin. And the sleeves of my cloak were drenched, but only at the bottom where it draped.

"Smooth." Black snickered to his partner, who happened to be Pettigrew. I turned and glared at them. It hadn't been my fault I had been shoved around.

"Sorry 'bout that." Potter whispered to me, rubbing his hair awkwardly.

"Not as sorry as I am." I growled, being unnecessarily rude. I didn't enjoy the experience, though, and as Snape glowered at me and scooped up a vial from the remaining liquid to turn it in, I began counting in my head before bending to clean the splashed liquid up.

It didn't get better from there. In transit between lunch and Care of Magical Creatures, people kept sniffing at me. I didn't have time to shower and change, not if I wanted to eat, and I definitely had to eat if I didn't want to faint. So not only was I smelling like a hodgepodge of everybody's favorite scents, I was angry, and I had to go to my least favorite class.

"Lion gal, you're smelling particularly good today." Black grinned as I passed by him. I flicked him off.

"He's telling the truth!" Lupin yelled after me as I hurried to go stand between Lily and Mary, who kindly parted ways for me.

Lily and Mary were kind enough not to say anything directly, but they kept discreetly leaning closer to me and sniffing. I was, needless to say, not amused.

And honestly, who knew that Thestrals were attracted to the smell of Amortentia? I couldn't see them, but I could feel them, and suddenly Professor Tofty was casting me scared glances. I was beginning to hyperventilate and sweat because I could feel the hot breath of something on my neck, and something kept nudging at me. Honestly, I was just plain terrified, and I wanted to be anywhere else. And it just kept getting better.

"He's going to EAT you!" Montague, a blockish Slytherin boy, swooped his arms near me. I winced.

"The itty bitty girl is afraid." Another Slytherin chuckled, this time a girl.

"Something, or someone, is going to have to…eat her." A leer from another boy. If this is how Slytherins courted each other, then I was glad I wasn't one of them.

Lily and Mary stepped closer to me, but there was only so much protection they could offer, and Tofty was strict about taking out wands when we didn't need them. Surprisingly, it was the boys who "came to my rescue."

"Hey, Evans," Potter shouldered past Montague, "can you explain something to me?"

"I've already told you, Prongs, that's not how it's done!" Lupin exclaimed, slipping between the pretty blonde Slytherin and the leering boy, stopping between them and me. He kept his back to them, and I don't know how he was brave enough to do that.

"No, no, that's definitely how it's supposed to be." Black broke in, running right into the Slytherin boy who was no longer leering at all. With a greater mass of Gryffindors, they disbanded.

I don't even remember what I was supposed to have learned that day in Care of Magical Creatures – I was so jumpy that I didn't take in anything. Nor did I participate in any conversation the others were having, because I kept shifting position, trying to get away from the invisible, bat-like Thestrals.

Herbology was a welcome break, or so I thought. The others all walked with me, in a large protective group. I tried to ignore when they subtly leaned closer to get a whiff of my hair or cloak. Pettigrew even did, and he almost tripped over me from walking to close. Potter and Black caught him between them, though, and sang a jaunty tune to keep him from making me uncomfortable.

We were in Green House 3 – the tropical one. I was sweating badly, which apparently made the smell of the potion ten times stronger. At least I can say it didn't attract any plants. I did, however, attract a swarm of insects and several boys from class. Professor Sprout sent me back to the castle with a pitying head shake and directions to take a shower immediately, to which I complied. I wanted the potion off of me, because it had caused nothing but trouble.

Unfortunately, the potion was going to cause just a little more trouble. Lucius Malfoy, the unbecoming, pale, white-haired Slytherin Headboy found me in the halls.

"Why aren't you in class?" He demanded, a sneer forming on his worm-like lips. Really, I had no clue why that Narcissa girl was so hung up on him.

"Why aren't you?" I shot back, because apparently any ounce of common sense I might have had was long gone. He took a jerky step forward, pulling his blackened wand (ash or holly, maybe?) from his robes.

"You will treat your Head Boy with respect." He hissed, tilting his chin back. I didn't tell him that in most animals that was a sign of surrender, not a leadership movement. I did not, apparently, look properly cowed. "Detention!"

"What for?" I gasped, stung by the unfairness. I was just supposed to be taking a shower, not dealing with insane Head Boys. Honestly, what had Dumbledore been thinking, to choose this spoiled pansy to be in charge?

"Tonight, in the Dungeons at six!" He snarled, not really giving me an answer.

"Want me to bring some menstrual potions and pads for you?" I snarled, but this time I was quick enough to dodge by him before he could utter any other words.

I took my shower and spent a long time doing it, taking great care to get every last drop of the potion out of my hair. I was even willing to cut off my hair to get rid of the damned scent. I skipped dinner that night, knowing that I would probably puke it up from being in close proximity with Malfoy all night. Or however long the detention was going to be.

I arrived at the Dungeons at exactly 6:01, not surprised at all that he wasn't there yet. Setting myself on a desk, I picked idly at my nails while I waited for him to show up. The Dungeons were dank, as always, and I wondered why the school maintained them. It would be easier to just fill them in. They were extensive, though, heading all the way out under the lake.

A Ravenclaw sixth year showed up, to my surprise. I had thought I would be suffering alone.

"You pissed off Lucy Malfoy too?" He asked with an amiable grin, seating himself on a desk beside me. I nodded, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. He was an attractive enough bloke, with honey-colored hair, and a broad, white smile. "So what'd you do?" He was looking me over unabashedly, probably trying to place my name.

"Suggested he was having his monthlies." I turned to face the bloke, wondering who he was. He looked vaguely familiar…

"Nice! I'm John Abbott, by the way. You are?" He held out a calloused hand, and I took it, pleasantly surprised about how nice he was turning out to be.

"Genre Pokeby. So what'd you do?" I asked, gesturing at the damp stones that surrounded us.

"I lit his robes on fire during lunch, purely by accident of course. You're not Genny (he pronounced this "Johnny") as in Cadie's little sister, are you?" He asked curiously, his light brown eyes lighting up.

"That sounds like a boy's name." I grumbled. Of course, my family called me Genny on a semi-frequent basis.

"Yer, it does." John agreed.

"Is he ever going to show up?" I finally asked, referring to Malfoy.

John glanced down at his watch. It was now 6:15.

"It doesn't look like it. Shall we go get some dinner? It'll still be at the tables." He winked conspiratorially at me.

"Sure." I wouldn't admit that I got butterflies in my belly when I thought that maybe "Lucy" Malfoy would show up later, and we would get in trouble. But the chances were, I realized, that he had simply forgotten.

"Where were you?" Tammy asked, as I slipped into a seat by her. Her blue tie looked out-of-place at the Gryffindor table, but no one seemed to notice.

"She had a love potion dumped on her earlier. She was probably hiding from all the boys." Mary grinned broadly at me. I grinned back, even as I thought that I hadn't been hiding from all the boys. I had actually been with one for a good fifteen minutes, including the walk in the hall.

"Oh, what did the potion smell like to you?" Tammy asked, smiling like a little kid. I paused to think back to it. What had it smelled like to me?

"Wood, lavender, and a tad bit like those cinnamon cookies I love." I finally concluded.

"Really?" Lily wrinkled her nose, her green eyes lighting up with laughter.

"Really." I concluded seriously.

"What kind of _wood_?" Mary chortled with a bawdy wink in my direction. I huffed and threw a roll at her playfully.

"You smelled like fresh air and holly to me." Lily admitted.

"No way!" Mary giggled. "I kept getting whiffs of those new cloaks at Madame's place! You know the ones I'm talking about?"

"I wish I'd have had the chance to smell you!" Tammy laughed. "When I had Potions, ours was a bust. We must've added in too many dragonfly wings or something."

"Did it smell anything like me to you?" Potter swung his leg over the bench besides Lily, fairly shoving Mary aside.

"No Potter, it didn't. And stop eavesdropping, you slimy toe-rag." Lily rolled her eyes.

I glanced at Potter's wand, surely a holly if I had ever seen one, but I didn't say anything. It was probably just a coincidence. At least she hadn't said it smelt like a Quaffle or something like that.

I got back up to my dorm and went to Astrology a couple hours later with everyone else. The potion had quickly been forgotten about, and although my day had been pretty shitty, I had survived and nothing _too_ scarring had happened. Although I had found out that to Potter I smelled like baby powder (how embarrassing for him), lily perfume, and evergreen. The other boys wouldn't admit to anything, although Black spent a lot of time teasing Mary that she must have been lying, and surely the potion had the same scent that he did.

Amortentia, I mused, was a potion I never wanted to be near again. Why had Slughorn wanted us to make it? Surely it was too mature for fifteen year olds to handle. But the ordeal was over, and I never had to touch it again.

* * *

Author's Note: So, I posted a longer chapter than normal. Hopefully this will be the new length of all my chapters. But anyways, sorry I haven't posted for more than a couple days. I have full-time work, full-time school, and I saw my boyfriend for the first time in forever (he's in the military), so needless to say, my plate was kind of full. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.


	10. War Brought Home

Disclaimer: As always, J.K. Rowling is the original creator of the world of Harry Potter.

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**War Brought Home**

The next morning I woke up in a much more cheerful mood. I had Charms and Defense, both classes I really enjoyed. Ancient Runes was always pretty interesting, too. Ancient Runes, as one of the "elective" classes, was a much smaller class with students from all houses at once. I heard the same was true of Muggle Studies and Divination, but I had never had any interest in those classes.

"Pokeby!" I heard someone call. It was Black – I recognized his voice and he was the only one of the boys that could never remember my first name.

"What is it?" I turned to face him, accidentally bumping my sister's arm as she tried to pile scrambled eggs on her plate. She turned to glare at me, but was too tired to do more than form a bleary sneer. (Why was she so tired? What had she been doing the night before?)

"Look, Mo – Remus says that you guys are covering something really important in Ancient Runes today. He got sick last night and probably won't be there, so can you take notes for him?" He was giving me a winning smile, but that's not what made me agree. I was always willing to take notes for other people, because it made the information stick in my head that much easier.

"Sure thing." I told Black.

"Great!" He gave a short, bark-like laugh, and then ruffled my hair before bounding off.

"I don't much like those boys." Stan frowned, watching the black-haired beauty leap over the Gryffindor bench, resulting in more than a few spilled plates.

"I don't know…they did help me with that whole betting business." I shrugged, mumbling around my mouthful of eggs. After winter break I had resumed sitting by Bertram, but now in a stony silence. Sometimes he came to class with oddly colored hair, or a foul odor, and I had a fairly good idea who was doing all the jinxing.

"Eh. I guess that's fair enough." Stan leaned back in his seat, eyeing the three boys there. "Where's that other bloke?"

"Weren't you just listening?" Jenny laughed. "He's sick. That's why that Black kid came over here."

"No, he just came to get an eyeful of Genre, here." Dick winked at me, and then we all laughed.

I did take double notes in Ancient Runes, and I left the class with a very good understanding of the two runes "Eihwaz" and "Ehwaz." I debated taking notes for Lupin in some of my other classes I knew he had as well, but when it came down to it, I didn't know him that well. Plus, I was pretty sure his friends would take notes for him instead. Right? So I gave the extra copy of notes to Potter when I passed him in the halls after dinner. He thanked me with an excited grin, and was off before I could ask if they needed any more notes.

I was still thinking about Ancient Runes on my walk back to the common room, and I glanced out the window blandly, expecting to see nothing more than darkness. But there, stalking from the lawn into the fringe of the Forbidden Forest, was a nightmare.

I went to bed early that night, hounded by the creature I had seen when I was peeking out my window after supper. I was pretty sure I was never, ever, going to enter the Forbidden Forest. Not if it housed weirdly antlered creatures like that. It had looked too large to be a safe animal.

The weekend couldn't come soon enough, but even when it did come I was unsettled. I just had a bad feeling about _something_ and I didn't know what. I kept quiet about it, except with Stan and Cadie, because I knew they wouldn't judge me. I'm pretty sure they told Jenny and Dick as well, because all four of them were exceptionally quiet and gently spoken around me for the weekend days. It didn't help. I still felt as though I had swallowed a large balloon, and it was sitting awkwardly in my belly and chest. At the end of the weekend, when nothing bad happened, we all sort of forgot about it.

We shouldn't have forgotten about it. None of us should have.

"Miss Pokeby, come with me." McGonagall found me Monday morning before I entered the Great Hall, and led me away.

"What's wrong, Professor? Did I do something? I thought our meeting wasn't for another week." I asked, unsure of why she would bother me. She never bothered me.

"It will all be explained in a moment." She told me, her lips tight and her eyes moist. She patted my shoulder as we stopped in front of two gargoyles, and she murmured something under her breath. The password, I guess, because the gargoyles were splitting apart, and there was a spiraling staircase behind them.

I stepped onto the staircase, and it lifted me up. McGonagall followed. When we came to a large, heavy oak door, she knocked.

"Come in." I recognized Dumbledore's voice, though I had never talked to him personally.

The door opened. Stan and Cadie were standing there, both of them rather white. I froze.

"Please, have a seat." Dumbledore said nicely, waving his hand at the plush blue armchairs scattered in front of his desk.

"I'll stand." I managed to choke out, everything clicking together in my head – the bad feeling, my siblings and I with the Headmaster…

Apparently he had already had the argument of the benefits in seat-taking with my siblings, because he didn't insist. He did stand as well, his mostly grey beard sweeping against the top of the desk as he stood.

"We received some news earlier this morning." He told us gravely, moving to lean against the front of the desk. I was still frozen by the door. Stan and Cadie were holding hands tightly. "There was an attack in Barnstaple last night." Barnstaple. Our parents used the cabin there for writing inspiration. It was where we got attacked by the dragon, once.

"What sort of attack?" Stan asked, his eyes screwed tightly shut as he tried to say it without crying.

"Deatheaters. Supporters of Voldemort. There were several survivors, but I'm afraid your parents weren't among them." He told us sadly. Cadie let out a howl of anguish, and Stan pulled her tight to him. I couldn't move, couldn't think.

There was more conversation after that – Stan demanding to know where we would stay. He and Cadie were too old to be considered orphans, but I was only fifteen and they had no job to support me. There were answers, and Dumbledore's assurances that he would take care of everything. McGonagall's hand was on my shoulder the entire time, the only support I had. When she did leave, it was to teach class I realized vaguely. I should've been in class.

"You can stay in here for the rest of the day, if you wish. You will be excused from class." Dumbledore told us, his blue eyes resting on my face. I was pretty sure I must've looked a bit like a banshee.

"We…we should go to the common room. Dick and Jenny." Cadie broke out. Dumbledore nodded, and followed my siblings to the door. Cadie drew me against her, cuddling me, but I stood as woodenly as a tree. Dead. They were dead.

Stan and Cadie managed to get me to the Ravenclaw common room. As soon as we were there though, I tugged away.

"Class." I choked out, the tears still not in my eyes. I'm pretty sure I was probably in shock.

"No, Genny, no class today. Come here, sweetie." Jenny cooed at me. I turned and fled. I was good at that. My bag thumped against my side heavily, but I didn't care. The Potions room was just beginning to fill up when I got there. Lily and Mary cast me a curious glance, wondering where I had been during breakfast and Transfiguration.

"You showed up?" A Slytherin laughed from somewhere in the back of the room.

"Too bad." Another snorted.

"Too bad she wasn't in the cabin with her parents, you mean?" Snape said in his silky, detesting voice. Something in me caught on fire, it felt like. I had my want out in a blind fury.

"Reducto!" I shrieked, my wand shaking in my hand. I missed. Snape's stool was blasted apart, but he seemed to be unharmed. I was striding to him, my wand still pointing, when Slughorn rushed into class.

"No, no, Miss Pokeby, please, calm down. You don't have to be here right now. Let's get you to the Hospital Wing…" Slughorn was trying to placate me.

"He didn't mean it! Don't hurt him." Lily was saying over Slughorn's voice, defending Snivellus.

There were some sniggers from Slytherins in the class, but when I whirled on them there was no more noise. I'm not sure if I just stopped hearing, or if they shut up, but most of them shrank back from what they saw in me. With a contemptuous stare at Slughorn, the blibbering idiot who was trying to send me to the Hospital Wing, I sent one last hex at Snape, and then tore out of the room in a fury.

I found the room I had used so long ago, it seemed, with the books and the cushions and lamps. This time there were no books, but many glass objects that were soon broken into thousands of pieces, the walls not even scarred. When I was out of objects, I finally broke as well. I fell to the ground and just cried, and couldn't stop for anything. I was never going to stop crying.

At some point I did stop crying and I fell asleep. My mind was sluggish, moving as if I were drugged. I dreamed of the Peruvian Vipertooth, of the way Dad had flung himself in front of Mom and I, even though it was too late. The way Mom, ignoring the blood on her face, had thrown herself over the twins and I, protecting us with her own body against the poisonous reptile. She wasn't there to protect us anymore.

I slept with harrowing dreams all night, and when I woke up in the morning there was a mirror leaning up against the wall. I peeked into it, trying to make myself presentable. Stan and Cadie would be worried. There was a brush on the floor, and I made use of it, struggling to get the snarls in my hair out. My eyes were rimmed with red and my nose made me look a bit like Rudolph. My cheeks looked filthy, stained and sticky from tears. I couldn't wash them off, though, so I just left the room with my bag. It was too early for most of the students to be up, but I ran into the Gryffindor ghost.

"Ah, m'dear girl." He said sadly. "I'll go let Dumbledore know you've been found."

I refrained from mentioning that I had found him, not the other way around. I actually refrained from mentioning anything at all, and just zipped to the Ravenclaw common room, because I was sure that's where my friends would be. They were there, once I had managed to answer the riddle and get in. Cadie gave out a short cry and enveloped me in a hug. I hugged her back and started crying all over again, even though I hadn't thought I _could_ cry anymore.

"Don't do that to me, Genny, don't do that." Cadie was sobbing too, and Stan was standing by both of us.

For some odd reason, I didn't except to see Tammy there, even though she was a Ravenclaw student. I was so used to her being with Lily and Mary and I, that I had just pictured her being a Gryffindor at this point. She hugged me, lightly though, as if knowing I didn't really want to be touched.

"You're okay?" She asked, her black eyes searching my own dark eyes.

I nodded, but my throat was all sticky from crying, so I didn't try saying anything.

"I'll let the others know. Come find me if you need anything." She patted my hand, and then left for class, glancing at me over her shoulder. I never appreciated a friend so much.

The funeral was a sordid affair, taking place on the day that before was scheduled for my meeting. It had been put together rather quickly by our dad's mom, the kraken of our family. She was strict, and just as liable to bite off someone's head as to help them out. She kept clucking at Stan, Cadie and I if any of us so much as snuffled.

Everything was rather jumbled. Not much family showed up, just one of dad's brothers and his family, and my mom's aunt and cousin, plus us kids and our grandma. The black cloaks we all wore were plain and heavy, protecting us from the April chill. OWLs and NEWTs were coming up, but we were here, staring at closed wooden coffins. I had asked why they weren't open, wanting to say bye to my parents for the last time. Iron-fist had sniffed, before informing me that my mother had been burned beyond recognition.

We were returned to school on the Hogwarts Express, which was eerily quiet with no other students on it. We stuck to our one compartment, and arrived at school late at night. McGonagall and Hagrid, the gamekeeper, were there waiting for us. How many students had they waited for this semester? I wondered. We weren't the only ones who had lost a parent or a sibling or any other family member during the war. And to think that only months earlier I had assumed that the war would be over before it even began to affect us.

I studied for the OWLs, throwing myself into the revisions and notes as if I had nothing else to live for. Cadie and Stan weren't as studious, and spent most of their time out by the gamekeeper's cabin, working with whatever animals he could find for them. I sat out there with them, but at a safe distance, and I wouldn't look past my parchments and books. I didn't want to look up and see the danger they were putting themselves in. I didn't want to know. Jenny and Dick were with us constantly, and with some amount of surprise, I found that Tammy, Lily, and Mary spent a large amount of time with us too. When the OWLs came, I was so busy I didn't have time to think about what was going to happen to our family anymore. It was a welcome relief.

After my explosion in Potions, most students left me alone, afraid to provoke my temper. My friends, and surprisingly the boys, didn't.

"Your notes saved my scrawny arse." Lupin told me as we left the examination room for Ancient Runes. "Thanks, again, for that."

"You're welcome." I said to him. I hadn't been a great conversationalist the last several weeks, but no one seemed to be holding it against me. It was common knowledge around the school that my parents were dead (as if the Slytherins referring to me as "orphan" wasn't a dead giveaway) but no one seemed keen on pressing me for more information.

"So what'd you think of the exam?" He asked, his voice carefully neutral.

"It seemed fine." I responded.

"Lion gal!" Black yelled from down the hallway, having apparently just exited his own exam . "Moony!"

"Oh, so you did notice me here?" Lupin asked glibly. Black grinned, and swung his arm over Lupin's shoulder.

"I noticed you first, mate." He teased his friend.

"Which is a bit awkward, given the wording of that statement." I breezed, before veering off to head to the Hufflepuff common room. That's where Stan and Cadie said they would be between their own exams.

"Wait, where are you headed off to?" Black called after me.

"She's hanging out with the Huffers." Lupin informed him quieter. My step paused for a second, wondering how he knew that, but he was pretty observant. He probably just saw me headed that way a lot.

Later that night, while I was sitting between Cadie and Dick, Lily came storming over to the table.

"Can I sit with you?" She asked as food began appearing on the table.

"Sure." I said, and Dick scooted over to make room for her.

"Snape and Potter are both dirty toe-rags." Lily snarled as she slipped into the seat between Dick and I.

"Oh yeah," Jenny nodded from across the table, "I heard about that. You didn't take it to heart, did you? Only Slytherins think nasty things like that. None of the rest of us think you're a, you know, _mudblood_." Jenny whispered the last word, glancing around to make sure no one else heard her.

"Who called you that?" I asked, shocked. Had it been Snape or Potter?

"Snivellus did." Lily growled, her long red hair falling messily around her face and shoulders as she glowered at the table.

"He did not." I was unable to comprehend it. Of course I thought Snape was a filthy Death Eater, but I thought that about most Slytherins nowadays.

"He did." Lily confirmed.

* * *

Author's Note: So is anyone else dealing with midterms right now? I've got to say, I haven't been this stress since I applied for grad school. But anyways, this chapter brings us near the end of fifth year, and sixth year is when friendships are really brought to light :) Enjoy!


	11. Death to the Family

Disclaimer: At the Wand's Core is mine…but you know, sadly, Harry Potter still belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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**Death to the Family**

We all ate in silence after that. Cadie and Stan were stressed, I know, trying to figure out how to make things work after the term was over. They had heard back from one place in Romania that was expressing interest in hiring them, but they both seemed hesitant to leave me behind. Jenny and Dick were both just quiet because I think they knew that would help Cadie and Stan the most. Dick had definitely got hired for the nutrition lab at the same place in Romania, but Jenny was still waiting to hear back from the place. They were all good friends. It would work out for them, I was sure.

Lily and I both finished early, having eaten quickly so we could study for our next exam.

"Bye guys." I waved to my siblings and Dick and Jenny, who all waved back. Until we were out of the public eye, out of school, we wouldn't be able to grieve. I think we all realized that, and were just holding out until then. Even so, I saw Cadie tense when I started walking away, and Stan watched me walk all the way out of the Great Hall.

The rest of the OWL tests were a breeze – maybe not easy, but they passed quickly. We were packing before we even knew it. Linda, Penny, Lily, and Mary were all tactfully quiet when I burst into tears as I uncovered a letter Mom had scrawled to me before our winter break.

The train ride back to platform 9 ¾ was a mixture of silence and laughter as my older friends and siblings recounted all their memories of being students at Hogwarts. (Apparently they had been in more trouble than I ever realized.) I found Mary, Lily and Tammy in a compartment before the train stopped so I could hug them all and wish them a happy summer vacation.

My iron Grandma was at the platform. I had been informed right before the exams that she would be my new guardian. Stan and Cadie had an apartment with Jenny and Dick for the next month, and then they were leaving for Romania. Stan and Cadie were going to be dragon trainers.

"Be good. We'll come visit you this weekend." Stan murmured to me when he held me in a tight hug.

"Make sure you clean up first." Grandma sniffed, squinting at his rumbled robe and messy hair.

"Write us every day." Cadie ordered, tugging me out of Stan's arms so she could hug me.

"I will." I mumbled, holding back tears.

"Don't forget about us, either." Jenny said, her own voice choked up. She and Dick each hugged me as well, and then all four of them stood and watched as Grandma grabbed a hold of my arm and spun in place. We popped, with an uncomfortable feeling in my body, and then we were in her spotless living room.

"This way, Amelia." Grandma ordered, calling me by my middle name. She did that because she said "Genre" and "Genny" were not suitable names for a girl of any age. "This will be your room."

It was the room that used to be the guest bedroom, but she had taken out all of the pictures and paintings that had been on the wall. The bed was made, the blanket folded back, and there were hangers in the otherwise empty closet, as well as a shelf for my underclothes.

"Decorate as you will, but keep it tasteful." She said, and her voice tightened.

"Thank you, Grandma." I said, dropping my trunk so I could hug her, burying my face in her carefully-placed hair. She hugged me back, but then disentangled herself.

"I'll be making dinner. Be in the dining room at seven." She ordered. There were tears in her eyes. I nodded, and she left, probably to mourn her dead son. I did the same thing for a few more seconds, and for my siblings as well. I felt abandoned, even though I knew that wasn't anyone's intent.

It was a quiet holiday. Grandma gave me a few boxes full of pictures, and told me I could take a few. Most of them were just my dad, but some were my mom and dad, and there were one or two with all of us kids in them too. Grandma didn't humor my phobia of all creatures, and made me get my own letters off of owls. By the end of the summer I was almost comfortable enough to pet the owls, although I still threw the treats from a distance because I didn't want to get close to their beaks. I got plenty of super-long letters from Dick, Jenny, Stan and Cadie all together, and I wrote them usually once or twice a day. Lily and Tammy both sent me a letter about weekly, and I got in the habit of writing to them as well. Mary didn't write frequently, but I got sporadic owls from her. When my OWL results came in, Grandma made a cake and a special dinner because I had done a lot better than any of us expected. The letter had an exhaustingly long introduction explaining the grading and what particular grades meant. In the end, I was pleased, though.

** Charms - E**

** Transfiguration - O**

** Herbology - A**

** Defense Against the Dark Arts - E**

** Ancient Runes - O**

** Astronomy - A**

** Potions - O**

** History of Magic - E**

** Care of Magical Creatures – P**

Under normal circumstances, those grades wouldn't have been very impressive, but with everything that had happened…I honestly thought I would be sure to get mostly P's, and possibly a couple T's as well. The only failing grade I had gotten was in Care of Magical Creatures, which wasn't much of a surprise. The surprise was that I didn't get the same grade in Herbology.

Grandma took me shopping the weekend before school started again. We passed the apartment the twins had been living in, but it was leased out to someone else now, because they were in Romania. Already, they had their first assignment. They wouldn't tell me what it was, probably because they knew it would only frighten me.

After we were done purchasing books and having my wand checked, Grandma made me get my robes let out another couple of inches since I had grown in the last year. She also made me get my hair trimmed because "those split ends just aren't attractive, Amelia."

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Author's Note: I have two things to talk about. First, I know this chapter is short. Please excuse that, but due to the content of the chapter, I didn't want to mix it with the next section which I will also probably post tonight. Second, I am sorry about the long(er) wait for this chapter. I had midterms, and then almost immediately after I got a call back for a second job opportunity that I could not pass up. So yay me, I'm working two jobs and in grad school full time…no way that can be a mistake, _right?_ Right.


	12. Sixth Time's the Charm

Disclaimer: Must I? We all know it now.

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**Sixth Time's the Charm**

In a surprising show of affection, Grandma waited with me at the train station until I found Mary, who was quick to find Lily. I kissed my Grandma on her powdery cheek, and she apparated on the spot. I was ready to start my sixth year.

"So how are you?" Lily asked, motherly as ever.

"I'm fine." I smiled at her, and it was the truth. I was fine. I was struggling to find a niche in this new life, but I was getting on. The first two months of summer had included many tears, but now it was mostly just sad thoughts occasionally.

"How was your summer?" Mary asked as we struggled to drag our trunks onto the train.

"It was quiet." I admitted honestly. "How about yours? Rome, this year?"

"Yeah, it was a blast! The boys there are much cuter." Mary grinned, her teeth flashing white in her tan face. Her lightly colored brown hair had been bleached from the sun until it looked more blonde than anything.

"I doubt that the boys were cuter." Black grumbled from behind me. "You guys are taking a long time. Do you need help?"

"Help would be nice." Tammy popped up behind him, struggling with her own trunk. "There you guys are! I was looking all over for you."

Black lifted Lily's trunk onto the train first, and carried it to a nearby compartment. "In here okay?" He called back to us, checking to see that it was empty.

"That's fine!" Lily smiled broadly at him. He deposited her trunk up on the shelf, and went back for Mary's.

"I'll get this." I heard Lupin say pleasantly, and turned to see him grabbing a hold of my own trunk.

"Oh, er, thanks." I said awkwardly, feeling bad because I was just standing there and not actually helping them.

"We already got our trunks put away," he grunted while I followed him to the compartment as Black went back one last time for Tammy's trunk. "We're just looking for Prongs and W…I mean, James and Peter." His muscles tensed as he mustered up the strength to push my heavy trunk onto the shelf. "There." He slapped his hands against his trousers, and turned to face me with an easy grin. "So how was your summer, Genre?"

"It was, uh, good." I stumbled over the words, looking up at him in close proximity. He was actually pretty attractive, I had just noticed. His light brown hair was curling into his face, a little longer than necessary, and his amber-hazel eyes were framed with long lashes. There were orangey freckles that blended into the tan on his face, and his mouth was stretched into the aforementioned easy grin, the tips of his teeth just showing. "How about yours?" I questioned, finally getting my brain back in motion.

"It was good. I spent most of it with the rest of the Maur – " He started, but then Black jumped out of the compartment, bowling the two of us over.

"PRONGS!" He shouted, leaping at his friend.

"PADFOOT!" Potter dropped his trunk on Black's foot, and Lupin doubled over laughing. I stood there breathlessly, catching Lily's eyes just in time to see her smile knowingly.

The boys disbanded quickly after that, especially once Lily gave Potter a tongue-lashing when he suggested she should wear shorts more often (she did have rather nice legs, I noticed).

"So how are you doing?" Tammy turned towards me. Mary laughed.

"I already asked her that." Lily admitted with a smile.

"And I'm still fine." I grinned.

"Good." Tammy grinned back.

The welcome-back feast was delicious, and we tried to guess which first years would end up in which house. Mary guessed the worst, I guessed the best. Lily and Tammy were exactly tied because they kept choosing the same exact houses for each student.

I have to go take them to the dorm." Lily finally excused herself at the end of the feast, and then she stood and called, "First years! Follow me, I'll show you to your rooms!" And Lupin stood up to help her. I had a weird sort of pang in my stomach when I glanced over to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, both devoid of my siblings and other friends. I did however catch John Abbott's eyes, noticing the fine looking "Headboy" pin on his robe. I gave him a thumbs up, and he flashed me a brilliant smile.

"I'm done eating too, shall we?" Mary asked, standing up. I stood as well, pushing my plate away.

"I guess I should probably go see how the people in my own house are doing." Tammy joked, and skipped off to attack another one of her buddies from Ravenclaw.

In the dorm, I posted up pictures I had collected of my family. I even posted the news article that appeared in the post after we had been attacked. Lily frowned at it for a second as she read it.

"I didn't know you were attacked by a dragon," she finally said, a little hesitantly.

"What?" Mary bounced off her back to peer at the news article as well. "Wow."

Even Linda and Penny were looking over, both looking properly awed.

"Yeah, it was when I was little. I even have a scar." I said.

"Where?" Penny asked before anyone else could. In answer, I kicked off my black shoes, and then pulled off my off my right sock. The pitted scars circled my ankle all the way around, and the girls were silent as I pulled my leg up onto the bed so they could get a better look.

"I've never seen that before." Lily said.

"I keep it covered, usually." It was true, I hardly ever let people see my ankles.

"You shouldn't. You've got exceptionally cute feet, you should let everyone see them." Mary winked at me. I giggled, and pulled off my other sock, wiggling my toes.

"We should have another beginning of the year party." Penny said from her bed across the room.

"It would be fun!" I agreed immediately, and then blushed because I was being more chirpy and cheerful than usual, but it didn't seem right – I still felt like I should be in mourning.

"Let's do it, then." Lily grinned evilly. "I'll start getting things together. Shall we say the Saturday at the end of the month?"

* * *

My schedule that year seemed a lot less terrifying after I dropped Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures. I kept Herbology, just because the book I had read the year before intrigued me. If magical plants could be used in wands, than that was something I wanted to work with. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I had Potions, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and then Herbology in the afternoon. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I had Ancient Runes, Charms, and then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tammy was in Herbology, History of Magic, and Defense with us.

We all ate breakfast at the Gryffindor table, and when it was time for classes we stood up with enthusiasm that would surely die by the end of the day. John Abbot stopped me as we headed towards the Dungeons.

"Hey, Genny," he said, still pronouncing it like 'Johnny,' "Guess I won't be seeing you in any detentions this year." He winked, flipping his blonde hair out of his face.

"Not unless you're running them." I laughed, and then walked by because that was the end of the conversation.

"You had a detention?" Potter asked curiously from behind me. I whirled, surprised to see all four boys standing there.

"Eavesdropping is really rude, Potter." Lily groaned.

"I'll stop eavesdropping if you go out with me." He grinned at her. I think I ruined the moment by laughing. If she hadn't looked so shockingly disgusted, I wouldn't have laughed…probably.

"We'll just have to make sure no one says anything of interest." Mary winked at us. I snorted. I never really said anything that would make eavesdropping worth it. "Anyways, Potions first, am I right?"

"You are." Lily linked arms with Mary and offered me an arm. I was too busy wincing and staring at the ceiling, though. They all looked up slowly, as if afraid of what they might see. You see, bullying was always a big thing at Hogwarts. There were particular targets, and I was lucky enough that I usually wasn't a target. Frank Longbottom, though? He was in his seventh year now, and he was revolving slowly in place, thirty feet off the ground. My hand was in my robe, fingers gliding along the smooth wood of my wand before I even knew what I was doing. I glanced around shiftily, noticing as I did that the others were doing the same.

"Who did it?" Pettigrew asked, his voice creaking. (Was he just now hitting puberty?)

"A Slytherin, no doubt." Black growled, his eyes narrowed at a nearby tapestry.

"So how do we get him down?" Mary asked, her eyes going back up to the floating seventh year.

"A levitation spell? Or a summoning charm?" I suggested, looking back up as well.

"Maybe." Lily agreed, and pulled out her wand, bouncing it in the air a few times as she muttered under her breath. Nothing happened. Potter was staring back up at the ceiling now, and glancing over at Lily, obviously confused. I could understand his confusion. Since when was Lily unable to do a spell? But even if Lily couldn't, I knew someone who could.

"I'm going to get McGonagall." I made up my mind quickly, and darted away just as Black bellowed "STUPEFY" at the tapestry he had been glaring at suspiciously. Part of me almost hoped I ran into a Slytherin on the way there, if only so I could know who had cursed or jinxed Longbottom. I made it to the Great Hall with no encounters though, even if the hall did go quiet when I skidded up to the main table in front of McGonagall.

"Professor," I tried not to gasp even if I was a little out of breath, "someone put a spell on Frank Longbottom. He's stuck up near the ceiling."

McGonagall's eyes widened briefly in surprise, but she stood immediately with a soft rustle of her emerald cloak. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dumbledore standing as well. "Take me to him," McGonagall was demanding, though, so I didn't have time to consider that. I strode off at a fast pace, and McGonagall and Dumbledore trotted after me.

"You three can run off to class." Professor Dumbledore smiled at Lily, Mary and I when we all crowded together again.

"Genre is the one who saw him first, Professor." Lupin said. I was surprised to see how relaxed the boys were. I was afraid we were going to get in trouble, which was foolish because none of us had done anything. "Shouldn't she stay to give a statement?"

"I don't think that will be necessary. Although perhaps it will be wise if one of you boys would escort them." Dumbledore said thoughtfully, looking at the prone form of Gibbon, a hideously named and formed boy from Slytherin. He was collapsed, sticking half-way out of the tapestry.

"Moony, you take them." Potter said seriously. He was still fingering his wand, though at a lower level. I wasn't at all shocked when little tentacles began sprouting on Gibbon's face and sticking out of his hair.

"Potter, that is enough!" McGonagall hissed, also noticing the new additions to Gibbon's unfortunate features. She did look mildly impressed though, at his wordless magic.

Lupin turned to us three girls, and began ushering us down the hall. If he was disappointed at being sent away, he didn't show it. His wand was out, though, so I kept mine out too, even as Mary stuck hers back into her deep pocket.

"Well, that's a bad way to begin the new year." He grumbled, but his voice didn't sound disgruntled. He actually sounded happy, in a way. I wondered if it was the excitement – he and the boys sure caused a lot of their own excitement if things got too quiet at the castle.

"Do you think Longbottom is okay?" Mary asked, glancing over at Lupin. He looked back, with an honestly shocked look on his face.

"Of course he is. Dumbledore's over there." And he said it with such finality that none of us dared to think otherwise.

"I am surprised." I muttered. The others all turned to me, Lily with a questioning gaze in her eyes. I stared at them all with wide eyes for a second before I explained my thought. "Longbottom is one of the best seventh-years at Defense, isn't he?"

"He probably is. That Alice girl always seems to be impressed." Mary said thoughtfully. Alice was a year younger than us, and a pretty enough girl.

"Huh." Lily muttered, and that was the end of that train of thought because we'd arrived at Potions only to find that we were, once again, stuck in a class with a bunch of Slytherins.

"I pissed off a powerful god in a past life." Mary deadpanned. Silently, I wondered if I had done the same.

* * *

Author's Note: See, true to my word I posted this chapter tonight! Yay!


	13. Of Draconic Proportions

Disclaimer: I prefer not to repeat it…it's depressing…but I didn't write the original Harry Potter series, of course :(

* * *

**Of Draconic Proportions**

My schedule was overall satisfying. Even without Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures, I was sure to be kept busy with classes, I was looking forward to it. There were fewer students in each class, I found that I enjoyed them much more. In Potions, for example, despite the fact that we were with Slytherins, I mixed a perfect Vitmix during our review of pre-OWL material. In Herbology, thanks to my new interest in becoming a wand-maker, I asked Professor Sprout the right questions and she was treating me much differently. In fact, she was treating me rather nicely. I was riding a euphoric high, happy to be back at Hogwarts and happy to no longer feel like I was drowning in the quietness of a home that was not my own.

The third of the new school term brought with it a letter written in my sister's handwriting and signed by my siblings and their friends, and a small package.

"What is it?" Lily asked curiously, leaning over her scrambled eggs eagerly while I unwrapped the plain brown paper.

"I don't know yet," I tossed her a goofy face.

When the paper finally fell apart and the item was revealed, we both stared at it silently.

"Is that…" Lily trailed off.

"I think so." My throat was tightening.

"That's illegal." Black said matter-of-factly. I hadn't realized that the four sixth-year boys in Gryffindor were awake and present.

"I know." Tears were springing up at the inner corner of my eyes, but I sniffed obstinately and forced them back. A dragon tooth necklace. The teeth were pearly and white, lacking the gem-like sheen that came with age. These were fresh teeth.

"Who's it from?" Potter asked curiously.

"No one!" I snapped, crumpling the letter up quickly and shoving it haphazardly into my robes with the necklace.

"This isn't good." Lily frowned, sounding both saddened and distant.

My forehead thunked against the table. Ruined was the beginning of my sixth year. How had this happened? They were all so logical and straight-laced, so it didn't make sense for them to be sending me illegal goods.

"We'll talk about it later." Lily murmured to me, her eyebrows slanted down in a troubled manner.

"I'm curious too. I never would have expected you to be into any illegal rings, lion gal." Black swung a leg over the bench next to me, straddling it in order to face me. I gave him a nasty look from my position against the table, but my smooshed face was apparently not very intimidating because he just looked at me expectantly.

"I'm kind of impressed. I think you're finally growing a mane." Potter chortled from his seat by Lily. I glanced up, surprised to see that she wasn't moving away from him.

I finally gathered my thoughts and sat up straight. I scooted back, and with a start my other side hit a warm body. I spun, my hair fanning out with the speed of my movement.

"Ouch!" Lupin cried, his hand held over his right eye.

"Did you just get whipped by her hair?" Black snorted. "That's kinky."

Blood rushed up to my cheeks, and with a groan, I decided to allow my face to once again resume its place against the table.

"There, there." Mary pat my back with a grin.

"Arses." I mumbled. Everyone but Lily laughed.

A pit began growing in my stomach during our breakfast, and it only grew worse and worse throughout classes. McGonagall chastised me rather thoroughly in Transfigurations for setting my entire desk alight with a fire that wasn't truly burning. (She did, however, look a little impressed.) In Defense, I simply wasn't paying attention since I was so busy stressing over the dragon-tooth charm. My inattention led to me being jinxed by an immediately apologetic Crispin. We were supposed to be dueling, see, and I was doing it quite poorly.

Finally, in lieu of lunch, Lily pulled me aside into an empty classroom. For a moment, we just surveyed each other. She stared at me with bright green eyes and I stared at her with my own almost-black eyes.

"What are you going to do?" She finally asked, her brows dropping in concern.

"I don't know." I muttered, glancing aside. "I want to know more before I…decide."

We were quiet for a moment.

"That's probably a good idea." Lily murmured, looking at the pearly white teeth I was gripping in a tight fist.

"I'll have to turn them in." I looked hopelessly at Lily. "I'm going to have to turn my sister and brother in." Without a second thought, I turned and retched, emptying my stomach of any contents.

"Oh dear," Lily expostulated.

By nightfall that same day, we had come up with a suitably worded letter I could send to Stan and Cadie. Basically, it mentioned how school was treating me so far. Then, as non-confrontational as I could make it, the letter went on to say that while the gift was interesting, I wanted to know _where_ it came from and _how_ they got it. Lily followed me up to the owlery and waited while I selected an owl and enticed it down.

"I've never seen you handle an owl before today." Lily mused, watching me tie the letter carefully to the small owl's leg.

"Don't be too impressed," I smiled at her, "I'd probably faint it dared hoot at me."

That night, in the dormitory, Linda and Penny kept shooting me looks and muttering to each other. At first I fostered the thought that I must be imagining it. After all, until the last year, I'd never had much interaction with my dorm mates. When I saw Mary shooting Linda and Penny nasty looks, my heart sank. It wasn't my imagination. This year was going swimmingly – first my siblings turn into some black-market hooligans, and then my roommates decided to treat me like everyone treated Emma Vanity, the school snark.

Within two days, the entire school seemed to be aware of my plight.

"Got any illegal contraband today?" Crouch – a mere second-year – shouted down the hall at me.

"I'll trade you an illegal curse if you can get me a basilisk egg!" Carrow belched from the Slytherin table.

Quite frankly, I was miserable. I was afraid to gainsay anyone since I myself felt my siblings might be doing something illegal. To make matters even worse, even people I thought were rather friendly before had changed with their interactions with me.

Crispin, who I admittedly was not _good_ friends with, no longer talked but just shot me looks and grumbled under his breath.

"What's his deal, anyways?" Tammy, who I didn't see much now that I spent more time with the other Gryffindors instead of in every other common room (other than the Slytherin one, of course), asked me.

"He thinks Cadie and Stan are actually killing dragons, I suspect." I rolled my eyes at Tammy, who rolled her eyes back. Lily was the only one who knew I actually kind of suspected my siblings too.

"It's ridiculous. I shared a common room with Cadie for five years – she loves dragons. No way would she kill one."

"Exactly!" I agreed. We both paused and watched Crispin walk by, for the third time. We were in the library stacks, well hidden from eavesdropping ears, but somehow he had found me again despite that.

For days, my life progressed as such. It left me rather grumpy, although Lily, Mary and Tammy, assured me they didn't hold it against me. I waited impatiently for a response from my siblings. The first Hogsmeade trip – and with it, our back-to-Hogwarts party – were coming up fast but I could hardly concern myself with finding a date to the village. It was unfortunate in a way, because Tammy and Mary both had dates. Lily didn't have one, but then she never did. She maintained that she just hadn't found the right guy yet. Secretly, I thought she was in love with James Potter but waiting until he matured a bit more. Just the last week Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew had performed a rather brilliant prank – the monolithic statues just outside the Great Hall spouted rather off-color jokes for over a day before the professors managed to figure out the fancy bit of wand-work. Professor Dumbledore seemed more amused by it than troubled. (My favorite was when the snake-entwined staff shouted "You must be some strong Skele-Gro! I'm growing a bone!")

Finally, the day before Hogsmeade, an owl delivered me a letter at breakfast. A small pouch was attached to the letter. I untied both and threw the owl a bit of toast, from a safe distance. With a furtive look around to make sure no one was paying too much attention, I shoved the letter and the pouch into my cloak. I caught Lily's eye. She followed me out of the Great Hall, and past the blissfully silent statues. We slipped into the first empty classroom. (Seriously, there were so many unused rooms at Hogwarts, it reminded me of a partially occupied bee-hive. On that note, would honey have an effect as an ingredient within a wand? It was an interesting material, magical or otherwise.)

I read the letter first, and then handed it to Lily.

_Dear Genny,_

_ Sixth year will be fun. It was our best year. And it came from a dragon. That is where most dragon teeth come from, you know. Do you like it? They're worth almost 7 galleons a piece in most wizarding areas. They're hard here on anyone caught poaching. We would never poach, though._

_ Get good grades! Or, something. I don't know. Have fun, maybe._

_ Lots of love,_

_ Cadie & Stan_

_P.S. Lots of love from Jenny and Dick, too._

"That doesn't answer anything." Lily frowned.

"It really doesn't." I pried the pouch open with my fingers and peered inside. There was a beautiful blue scale inside, so richly colored it almost seemed multi-colored. I dropped the pouch and bit back a cry of disgust. Lily peeked into it and sighed.

"What are you going to do?" She asked once again. I frowned, an angry bubble starting to rise in my chest. How dare Cadie and Stan do this to me? After losing our parents, they were willing to abandon me if they were taken in.

"I'm giving them one last chance. This might be a misunderstanding." I caught Lily's skeptical look. "If they don't give me a clear answer by Halloween, I'm going to Professor McGonagall. She'll know what to do." I decided it firmly, and Lily looked immediately relieved.

Oddly, having made the decision, a lot of the stress I'd been carrying for a little over a week now just fell away.

* * *

Author's Note: Hi there readers! Hope you enjoy this chapter. Personally, I prefer Genre's siblings elsewhere. Speaking from experience, sometimes it drains you when you're living up to someone else. Since the sixth year is now rolling on, expect a bit more in the romance department! Sweet sixteen and all that haha.


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